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Ketchani,  Vviliiain  baa,  1837-1903,  , 
Thanksgh^g  sermons  and  outline  addrej 
an  aid  for  pastors  /  J 


THANKSGIV 
SERMONS 

AND 

OUTLINE     ADDRESSES 

AN    AID    FOR    PASTORS 


COMPILED  A>JD  EDITED  BY 
WILLIAM  E.   KETCHAM,   D.  D. 


'IVe  see  our  Father's  hand  once  more 

Reverse  for  us  the  plenteous  horn 

Of  autumn,  filled  and  running  o'er 

With  fruit,  and  flower,  and  golden  corn." 


-Whittier 


READING,   PA. 
FRANK   J.    BOYER,   Publisher 

Office  of  The  Preacher's  Assistant 
A  Homiletic  Monthly 


Copyright,  1894, 
By  Wilbur  B.   Ketcham. 


INTEODUCTIOlSr. 


Thanksgiving  services  are  general  in  Chris- 
tian communities.  There  is  an  innate  sense 
of  the  rightfulness  and  propriety  of  Thanks- 
giving which  is  in  accord  with  the  teachings 
of  Christianity.  Various  are  the  legitimate 
ways  the  Christian  minister,  and  especially 
those  entering  upon  their  arduous  and  impor- 
tant duties,  may  secure  the  needful  prepara- 
tion to  discourse  upon  this  ever-fruitful  theme 
of  Thanksgiving.  His  primaiy  resource  must 
be  God's  own  Word.  He  is,  however,  lacking 
in  research,  and  illy  qualifies  himself  for  the 
discharge  of  this  imperative  duty  of  suitable 
discourse  upon  Thanksgiving,  who  fails  to 
glean  and  appropriate  from  every  field,  with 
prayerful  care,  all  help  available,  extracting 
the  sweets  from  all  flowers  as  the  bee  the 
honey.  Those  who  have  ofttimes  traversed 
the  fields  in  search  of  themes  and  material, 
and  therefore  whose  skill  and  wisdom  in  selec- 
tion are  matured,  can  well  render  to  those  of 

3 


4  INTRODUCTION. 

lesser  experience  wholesome  aid.  A  single 
suggestion  may  open  in  tlie  reader's  mind  an 
unexpected  fountain  of  thought  from  which 
shall  flow  healthful  reflection  and  appropriate 
discourse.  The  able  clergymen  whose  terse, 
abundant,  and  suggestive  thought  is  brought 
to  the  attention  of  the  readers  of  this  book 
will,  we  trust,  contribute  to  render  the  aid  in- 
dicated. So  frequent  and  persistent  are  the 
inquiries  for  such  suitable  aids  that  we  are 
happy  to  meet  the  demand  and  place  within 
the  reach  of  all  a  volume  which  contains  the 
product  of  the  best  thought  of  a  number  of 
prominent  and  devout  ministers.  It  will  be 
observed  that  the  Sermons  and  Outlines  are 
evangelical,  unsectarian,  and  thoroughly  prac- 
tical. 

We  send  forth  this  book  believing  he  best 
conforms  to  the  divine  ideal  who  is  prompted 
to  generous  gratitude  ''  to  the  unsparing  and 
unwearied  Griver,"  to  whom,  now  and  ever,  be- 
longeth  reverent  thanksgiving. 


COIfrTENTS. 


PAGB 

Thanksgiving  Day.    Historical  Sketch 9 

J   The  Table  Prepared  in  Presence  of  Foes.    By  Hugh 

Macmillan,  D.D.,  LL.D 11 

The  Fatherhood  op  God  and  the  Brotherhood  of 

Man.     By  Rev.  Charles  Neil,  M. A 32 

The  Parable  of  Harvest.    By  Rev.  W.  J.  Dawson 47 

The  Chain  of  Blessing.    By  J.  Monro  Gibson,  D.D 64 

"  The  Dew  unto  Israel. '*    By  Rev.  J.  Robinson  Gregory    77 
The   Plowman    Taught    of    God.    By    Rev.    Francis 

Standfast 88 

The  Voice  of  ThanksAving.    By  Rev.  O.  D.  Sherman.  103 
The  Feast  of  Tabernacles.    By  Rev.  Ralph  Williams.  113 

All  Gifts  God's  Gifts 122 

The  Harvest  and  its  Lessons.    By  Rev.  J.  S.  Pawlyn.  135 
The  Witness  of  the  Harvest.    By  Rev.  G.  A.  Ben- 
netts, B.  A 147 

Unto  God  Thanksgiving.    By  Rev.  J.  H.  C.  McKinney.  159 

The  Joy  in  Harvest.     By  Rev.  Arthur  E.  Gregory 168 

•]  The  Widow's  Cruse 174 

5 


O  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

The  Sower.    By  Rev.  Gordon  Calthrop 184 

»  Apart  from  the  Vine 190 

God  the  Giver  of  Increase 195 

A  Land  Flowing  with  Milk  and  Honey 203 

The  Bread  of  Life 208 

Our  Daily  Bread 209 

The  Earth  a  Teacher 219 

The  Springing  Forth  of  Righteousness.    By  Rev. 

A.  H.  Vine 226 

A  Beggar  in  Harvest.     By  Rev.  G.  A.  Bennetts,  B.A. .  231 

A  Thanksgiving  Day 234 

The  Cup  of  Salvation 245 

The  Parable  of  the  Sower.     By  Rev.  J.  Robinson 

Gregory , .  254 

I    Growth  and  Increase 260 

Weather-wise  265 

The  Secret  Growth  of  the  Seed 272 

God  Supplying  Human  Need 276 

Praise 282 

The  Moral  Lessons  of  the  Harvest 286 

Nature  Waiting  upon  God 288 

The  Feast  of  Harvest 290 

Thanksgiving— ITS  Definition.    By  Isaac  Barrows,  D.D.  293 

-'  Thanksgiving  Day.    By  E.  H.  S 294 

.   Harvest  Festival.    By  Rev.  M.  F.  Sadler 295 

The  Harvest 297 


CONTENTS.  7 

PAGE 

^  For  welat  to  Give  Thanks.    By  Kev.  J.  H.  Brookes  . . .  299 

V  Call  to  Gratitude.    By  the  Rev.  John  Stevenson 301 

'^  The  Duty  of  Thanksgiving.    By  Isaac  Barrows,  D.D. .  302 
The  Blessings  for  which  we  should  be  Thankful  . . .  302 

Prayer  and  Praise.    By  Rev.  John  Stevenson 303 

Thanksgiving   is  a  Necessity.    By  Rev.   S.  Baring- 
Gould,  M. A 304 

Abstract  from  Thanksgiving  Address.    By  Hon.  John 

W.  Ramsey 306 

Gratitude  Expressed.     By  Rev.  R.  Andrew  Griflfin ....  308 

Our  Thanksgiving 309 

He  hath  Done  Great  Things.    By  Rev.  W.  H.  Strick- 
land   313 

Timely  Thoughts  : 

Our  Benefits 322 

The  Glory  of  the  Country 323 

Thoughts  for  the  Day 323 

Giving  Thanks  always  for  all  Things 324 

Patriotism  and  Religion 325 

Two  Thanksgivings 326 

The  Bible 326 

Suggestive  Themes 327 

Suggestive  Texts 328,  329 


THANKSaiYINa  DAY. 

HISTOKICAL  SKETCH. 

This  annual  autumnal  festival,  at  or  after 
the  time  of  the  ingathering  of  our  harvests,  is 
observed  in  our  country  and  is  akin  in  many 
features  to  the  Harvest  Thanksgiving  days  of 
other  countries.  History  informs  us  of  an  oc- 
casional day  of  thanksgiving  in  foreign  lands 
by  civic  order.  The  day  was  observed  by  the 
recommendation  of  the  civil  authorities  at 
Leyden,  Holland,  October  3,  1575,  the  first 
anniversary  of  the  deliverance  of  that  city 
from  siege.  The  following  statement  from 
McClintock  and  Strong's  Cyclopedia  is  true  to 
history,  and  concisely  presents  the  origin  and 
growth  of  this  now  national  festival : 

"  After  the  first  harvest  at  Plymouth,  Mass., 
in  1621,  Governor  Bradford  sent  four  men  out 
fowling,  that  they  ^  might  after  a  more  special 
manner  rejoice  together.'  In  July,  1623,  the 
governor  appointed  a  day  of  thanksgiving  for 
rain  after  a  long  drought,  and  the  records  show 

9 


10  HISTOEICAL  SKETCH. 

a  similar  appointment  in  1632  because  of  the 
arrival  of  supplies  from  Ireland.  There  is  also 
record  of  the  appointment  of  days  of  thanks- 
giving in  Massachusetts  in  1632,  1633,  1634, 
1637, 1638,  and  1639,  and  in  Plymouth  in  1651, 
1668,  1680  (when  the  form  of  the  recommen- 
dation indicates  that  it  had  become  an  an- 
nual custom),  1689,  and  1690.  The  Dutch 
governors  of  New  Netherlands  in  1644,  1645, 
1655,  and  1664,  and  the  English  governors  of 
New  York  in  1755  and  1760,  appointed  days  of 
thanksgiving.  During  the  Revolution,  Thanks- 
giving Day  was  observed  by  the  nation,  be- 
ing annually  recommended  by  Congress ;  but 
there  was  no  national  appointment  between  the 
general  thanksgiving  for  peace  in  1784  and 
1789,  when  President  Washington  recommend- 
ed a  day  of  thanksgiving  for  the  adoption  of 
the  Constitution.  Since  that  time  special  days 
have  been  set  apart  both  by  Presidents  and 
governors  until  1864,  when  the  present  prac- 
tice was  adopted  of  a  national  annual  Thanks- 
giving. Custom  has  fixed  the  time  for  the 
last  Thursday  in  November." 


THANKSGIVING  SERMONS  AND 
OUTLINE   ADDRESSES- 


THE  TABLE  PEEPARED  IN  PRES- 
ENCE OF  FOES. 

BY  HUGH  MACMILLAN,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

"  Thou  prepares!  a  table  before  me  in  the  presence  of  mine 
enemies." — Psalm  xxiii.  5. 

These  words  are  generally  supposed  to  al- 
lude to  the  seasonable  hospitality  which  Bar-^ 
zillai  and  his  friends  gave  to  David  during  his 
flight  before  Absalom.  Faint  and  full  of  sor- 
row, the  king  and  his  faithful  companions 
reached  the  territory  of  Mahanaim,  on  the 
eastern  side  of  the  Jordan ;  and  the  Gileadite 
chiefs  supplied  them  immediately  after  their 
arrival  with  all  that  was  needed  to  satisfy 
their  hunger  and  thirst  and  refresh  their  weary 
bodies.  So  varied  and  profuse  was  the  pro- 
vision made  for  the  wants  of  the  royal  party, 

11 


12  THANKSGIVING  SERMONS. 

in  the  native  produce  of  the  rich  pastoral  lands 
of  Gilead,  that  the  sacred  historian,  in  his  ac- 
count of  the  incident,  enumerates  each  article 
separately.  It  was  a  most  memorable  occa- 
sion, and  the  feast  was  a  striking  example  of 
the  lavish  liberality  of  Eastern  princes  in  those 
early  days.  There  were  three  things  that  em- 
phasized the  allusion  of  David  to  it  and  made 
it  exceedingly  appropriate.  There  was,  first, 
the  great  physical  exhaustion  to  which  the 
king  and  his  followers  were  reduced.  They 
had  tasted  no  food  since  the  early  part  of  the 
previous  day,  when,  having  crossed  the  Jordan, 
they  rested  and  partook  of  the  slight  refresh- 
ment of  bread  and  dates  and  grapes  which  Ziba, 
the  servant  of  Mephibosheth,  had  given  them. 
Then  there  was  the  terrible  danger  to  which 
David  was  exposed.  A  price  had  been  set  upon 
his  head  by  his  own  unnatural  son.  Behind 
him  were  enemies  thirsting  for  his  blood ;  be- 
fore him  was  a  dark  future  of  miserable  per- 
plexities out  of  which  there  seemed  no  way  of 
escape.  Ahithophel,  wisest  of  all  the  Israelite 
statesmen,  had  gone  over  to  the  side  of  the  foe ; 
for  he  had,  through  the  wrongs  of  his  grand- 
daughter Bathsheba,  the  deepest  personal  rea« 
sons  for  revenge.  Shimei,  the  fierce  Benja- 
mite,  had  cursed  the  king  and  thrown  dust 
and  stones  at  him  all  the  way  from  Jerusalem 


TABLE  PEEPARED  IN  PRESENCE  OF  FOES.  13 

to  Jordan.  The  generous  conduct  of  Barzillai, 
therefore,  contrasted  strongly  with  the  cruel 
hatred  of  these  enemies.  And  there  was,  fur- 
ther still,  the  fact  that  the  Grileadite  chief  had 
been  connected  with  the  house  of  Saul,  whose 
daughter  Merab  his  son  Adriel  is  supposed  to 
have  married.  He  might,  therefore,  have  ex- 
ulted in  David's  overthrow  and  the  prospect 
of  bringing  back  the  old  dynasty,  and  have 
added  his  curses  to  those  of  Shimei ;  but,  for- 
getting all  grounds  of  hatred,  the  Grileadite 
chief,  in  the  most  unstinted  manner,  hastened 
to  place  the  best  of  his  stores  before  the  fallen 
king.  And  the  hospitality  of  strangers  upon 
whom  he  had  no  claim  revived  the  heart  that 
had  been  sorely  stricken  by  the  ingratitude  of 
his  own  flesh  and  blood. 

Such  was  the  table  to  which  David  re- 
fers, and  such  were  the  enemies  in  whose  pres- 
ence it  was  prepared.  It  was  so  remarkable, 
so  well  timed,  and  so  suitable  in  every  respect, 
that  the  psalmist  could  not  fail  to  recognize  in 
it  the  direct  interposition  of  God's  own  hand. 
It  was  a  miracle  of  Divine  Providence.  He 
who  had  been  the  guide  of  his  youth,  who  had 
prepared  his  way  to  the  throne  of  Israel,  had 
spread  this  table  in  the  wilderness  for  him. 
David,  while  living  the  life  of  a  fugitive  from 
Saul's  persecution,  had  been  often  supported 


14  THANKSGIVING  SEKMONS. 

by  the  grateful  contributions  of  the  farmers, 
whose  flocks  and  herds  he  had  defended  against 
marauders;  and  he  had  several  times  experi- 
enced the  generous  kindness  of  those  v^ho  were 
aliens  in  race  and  religion.  He  had  even  been 
privileged,  in  his  sore  extremity,  to  satisfy  his 
bodily  hunger  by  the  showbread  of  the  taber- 
nacle, which  it  was  unlawful  for  any  but  the 
priests  of  Grod  to  eat.  But  never,  in  his  most 
desperate  adventures  and  wonderful  deliver- 
ances, had  he  felt  the  loving-kindness  of  the 
Lord  so  deeply  as  on  this  occasion.  In  Bar- 
zillai's  generosity,  which  he  did  not  deserve, 
because  Barzillai  belonged  by  right  to  the 
house  of  his  enemy  Saul,  he  recognized  the 
wonderful  mercy  of  God,  which  he  did  not  de- 
serve because  of  his  heinous  transgressions. 
And  as  he  had  felt  that  the  curse  of  Shimei 
was  the  curse  of  Grod  because  of  his  sin,  and 
bore  it  patiently  as  if  in  it  he  was  privileged 
to  make  expiation  for  his  sin,  so  he  felt  that 
the  feast  of  Barzillai  was  the  feast  of  God,  in 
which  God  had  signified  the  forgiveness  of 
his  iniquity  and  the  divine  reconciliation  and 
peace. 

We  may  take  the  words  of  the  psalm- 
ist and  apply  them  to  our  own  circum- 
stances at  the  close  of  another  harvest.  There 
are  three  points  of  resemblance  between  the 


TABLE  PKEPAKED  IN  PRESENCE  OF  FOES.  15 

provision  made  for  David  and  the  provision 
made  for  us.  These  are  its  divine  preparation, 
its  abundance  and  suitableness,  and  its  being 
made  in  the  presence  of  our  enemies.  We 
have  seen  who  David's  enemies  were,  and  how 
the  food  which  he  needed  came  to  him  as  a 
victorious  feast  to  celebrate  his  conquest  of 
his  foes.  And  so  our  harvest  is  year  after 
year  prepared  for  us  in  the  presence  of  many 
foes,  with  which,  through  all  the  summer 
months,  it  maintains  a  prolonged  struggle, 
and  over  which  in  the  end  it  obtains  a  hard- 
won  triumph. 

1.  Let  us  consider  first,  tlien,  the  ene- 
mies in  whose  presence  our  table  is  pre- 
pared. In  ancient  Greek  fable  we  are  told 
about  the  harpies,  monstrous  creatures  with 
the  bodies  and  wings  and  long  claws  of  birds 
and  the  faces  of  maidens  pale  with  hunger. 
They  were  sent  by  the  gods  to  torment  the 
blind  prophet  Phineus,  who  had  offended  them 
by  his  misdeeds.  Whenever  a  meal  was  placed 
before  the  unfortunate  man  the  harpies  darted 
down  from  the  air  and  carried  it  off,  and  either 
devoured  the  food  themselves  or  rendered  it 
unfit  to  be  eaten.  It  was  with  the  utmost 
difficulty  that  he  was  delivered  from  these 
frightful  enemies  by  the  prowess  of  two  of  the 
Argonauts,  who  had  come  thither  in  search  of 


16  THANKSGIVING  SEKMONS. 

the  Grolden  Fleece.  Like  all  classic  fables,  this 
one  has  a  profound  moral.  In  this  old-world 
story  we  see  represented  by  the  blind  seer 
Phineus,  who  had  incurred  the  anger  of  the 
gods,  man  as  a  tiller  of  the  ground,  upon  whom 
the  divine  curse  has  been  pronounced,  because 
of  his  sins,  that  in  the  sweat  of  his  face  he 
should  eat  bread ;  wise  by  insight  and  experi- 
ence in  regard  to  the  common  operations  of 
agriculture,  but  blind  as  to  the  issues  and  re- 
sults of  these  operations,  ignorant  what  may 
be  the  increase  of  his  sowing  and  the  harvest 
of  his  toil,  if  any.  In  the  harpies  we  see  rep- 
resented the  various  enemies  that  are  con- 
nected with  the  growth  and  supply  of  our 
food,  that  are  constantly  on  the  watch  to  pre- 
vent us  reaping  the  fruit  of  our  labors,  or  ren- 
dering it  unprofitable  or  unpalatable  when  it 
is  reaped.  Since  sin  came  into  the  world  God 
has  ordained  that  man  should  encounter  in  full 
force  the  unkindly  elements  of  nature.  He 
sees  everywhere  around  him  a  bare,  hard 
wilderness,  whence  not  a  morsel  of  bread  can 
be  wrung  but  by  the  most  strenuous  labor, 
snatched,  as  it  were,  in  the  pauses  of  the  storm 
and  during  the  gleams  of  sunshine.  If  seed- 
time and  harvest  shall  never  cease,  that  divine 
promise  implies  that  the  need  of  them  shall 
never  cease ;  that  the  annual  harvest  of  the 


TABLE  PKEPARED  IN  PEESENCE  OF  FOES.  17 

world  will  only  suffice  for  the  world's  annual 
food.  The  earth  nowhere  brings  forth  double 
harvests ;  and  therefore  year  after  year  man 
has  to  sow  and  reap  his  fields.  And  nothing 
is  more  precarious  than  the  growth  of  the  corn 
upon  which  we  depend  for  our  daily  bread. 
It  is  surrounded  continually  by  innumerable 
enemies. 

There  is,  first,  unsuitable  soil  and  cli- 
mate. It  is  within  a  comparatively  small  area 
of  the  earth's  surface  that  we  can  grow  our  corn. 
Beyond  that  area  it  is  too  cold  or  too  hot. 
And  even  within  that  area  the  conditions  are 
not  always  favorable.  It  is  not  everywhere 
that  our  farmers  can  get  the  soil  and  climate 
that  are  most  suitable.  They  have  in  many 
cases  to  sow  and  reap  in  sterile  situations, 
where  the  seasons  are  late,  late  spring  and 
early  winter  following  hard  upon  each  other, 
and  thus  necessitating  an  unusual  expenditure 
of  toil  and  anxiety.  And  even  in  the  most 
favorable  circumstances  of  soil  and  climate 
the  skies  are  often  unpropitious.  There  are 
droughts  in  the  early  part  of  the  summer, 
withering  the  stem  and  blade  of  the  corn; 
there  are  long-continued  rains,  which  develop 
the  straw  at  the  expense  of  the  ear ;  and  at  a 
critical  period,  when  the  corn  is  in  flower  and 
hangs  out  from  its  green  head  its  slender,  white, 


18  THANKSGIVING   SEEMONS. 

threadlike  filaments,  whose  pollen  is  carried 
from  blossom  to  blossom  by  the  agency  of  a 
light,  gentle  breeze,  violent  winds  may  blow 
for  days,  carrying  this  vital  dust  to  too  great 
a  distance,  and  only  a  small  part  of  it  reaches 
the  bloom  of  the  corn;  the  consequence  of 
which  is  that  the  ear,  though  formed,  is  half 
empty  of  nutritious  material,  and  there  is  a 
great  deficiency  in  the  produce.  Were  these 
slender  threads  to  fail  in  their  all-important 
work,  were  they  to  shrivel  up  or  be  blighted 
by  unfavorable  weather — and  it  would  seem 
as  if  a  fiercer  ray  of  sunshine  or  a  ruder  breath 
of  wind  or  a  heavier  fall  of  rain  than  ordinary 
might  do  this — or  were  the  wind  to  prove  con- 
tinually boisterous  at  the  critical  time,  and  dis- 
perse the  pollen  so  that  it  should  be  wasted, 
the  whole  produce  of  the  fields  would  fail. 
This  is  the  great  risk  to  which  every  year  our 
corn-crops  are  exposed;  showing  to  us  how 
literally  man's  life  hangs  upon  a  thread — upon 
a  breath  of  wind. 

Then,  as  we  approach  the  days  of  ripening 
and  ingathering,  how  often  is  the  weather 
so  inclement  that  the  corn  is  in  danger  of  be- 
ing leveled  to  the  ground,  or  its  grains  thrashed 
out  of  it  by  the  beating  of  the  winds !  How 
often  does  the  stormy  weather  prevent  the 
reaper  from  cutting  down  the  dead  ripe  corn, 


TABLE  PREPAKED  IN  PEESENCE  OF  FOES.  19 

or  the  belated  stooks  from  drying  sufficiently 
to  be  taken  into  the  stack-yard,  so  that  the 
straw  rots  in  the  field,  and  the  grain  sprouts 
with  the  noxious  greenness  of  a  second  growth ! 
The  design  of  nature  is  benevolent  in  sending 
these  autumnal  storms,  for  they  are  necessary 
to  strip  the  trees  of  their  decaying  leaves  and 
their  ripe  fruits,  and  to  rot  them  in  the  soak- 
ing ground,  that  the  imprisoned  seeds  may 
escape  and  find  a  suitable  and  naturally  ma- 
nured soil  in  which  to  grow.  But  this  wise 
provision  of  nature  to  facilitate  the  dispersion 
and  growth  of  the  ripened  fruits  and  seeds  of 
the  earth  often  proves  disastrous  to  our  corn- 
crops  when  they  are  about  to  be  gathered  into 
the  barn.  We  step  between  nature  and  her 
purpose,  snatch  the  corn  from  its  appointed 
destiny  as  the  seed  of  a  future  crop,  and  con- 
vert it  into  human  food ;  and  thus  diverting  a 
law  of  nature  into  a  new  and  unnatural  chan- 
nel, we  cannot  always  expect  that  the  weather 
which  would  be  favorable  to  the  natural  pro- 
cess should  be  equally  favorable  to  the  artifi- 
cial. Our  wheels  and  nature's  wheels  are  thus 
often  out  of  gear ;  they  frequently  clash. 

Then,  further,  the  growth  of  our  corn  has 
many  enemies  of  the  animal  and  vegetable 
world  to  encounter.  It  has  to  enter  into  the 
great  struggle  of  hf e,  in  which  every  plant  as 


20  THANKSGIVING  SEKMONS. 

well  as  animal  must  fight  for  its  footing,  and 
the  weakest  goes  to  the  wall.  It  has  to  con- 
tend with  its  own  kind,  for  the  law  of  nature 
is  to  spread  every  plant  as  widely  as  possible ; 
and  therefore  weeds,  thorns,  and  thistles  cum- 
ber the  ground,  and  in  their  growth  endeavor 
to  choke  and  starve  the  corn  and  leave  them 
solely  in  possession.  These  have  to  be  rooted 
out  with  unremitting  care,  else  the  corn,  which 
is  a  highly  artificial  plant,  would  speedily  give 
way,  become  unfruitful,  and  perish  utterly  be- 
fore the  increase  of  wild  plants  naturally  far 
better  adapted  to  the  soil.  There  are  birds 
that  eat  the  seed  as  soon  as  it  is  sown  in  the 
field;  there  are  caterpillars  and  insects  that 
prey  upon  the  tender  blade;  and,  worst  of  all, 
there  are  rusts  and  mildews  that  grow  with  its 
growth,  and  appear  only  when  the  full  corn  is 
in  the  ear,  and  turn  the  nutritious  grain  into 
black  dust  and  ashes.  Everywhere  these  in- 
sidious parasites,  possessing  the  power  of  in- 
definite multiplication,  lie  in  wait  to  frustrate 
the  hopes  of  the  farmer.  Season  after  season, 
as  regularly  as  the  corn  gi'ows,  so  regularly  do 
these  baleful  parasites  appear.  They  have  been 
at  certain  times  epidemic,  and  have  repeatedly 
caused  famines  in  our  own  and  in  other  coun- 
tries. They  have  been  fearfully  and  wonder- 
fully made  for  their  work.     They  possess  va- 


TABLE  PREPARED  IN  PRESENCE  OF  FOES.  21 

rious  modes  of  propagating  themselves,  so 
that  when  one  method  fails  another  may  be 
developed  in  its  place.  Their  seeds  are  pro- 
duced in  incalculable  myriads.  The  atmo- 
sphere is  charged  with  them ;  the  soil  of  every 
field  is  thick  with  them.  Almost  every  grain 
of  corn  is  found,  under  the  microscope,  to  have 
one  or  more  seeds  adhering  to  its  husk.  And 
in  every  black  head  of  smut  among  the  corn 
we  see,  as  it  were,  "the  hidings  of  God's 
power."  We  see  how  easily,  if  it  so  pleased 
him,  he  could  let  loose  these  destructive  agen- 
cies to  break  the  staff  of  bread  and  cover  the 
land  with  desolation  and  woe.  It  is  a  remark- 
able fact  that  domesticated  plants  and  animals, 
which  man  has  cultivated  artificially  for  his 
own  use,  are  possessed  of  delicate  constitu- 
tions, and  are  therefore  more  prone  to  the  at- 
tacks of  numerous  enemies  than  plants  and 
animals  in  a  wild  state.  We  have  developed 
the  potato,  the  sugar-cane,  and  the  corn  un- 
naturally, and  the  unnatural  growth  which  is 
most  useful  for  our  purposes  is  from  nature's 
point  of  view  a  diseased  condition ;  and,  there- 
fore, she  hastens  with  her  insect  and  fungi 
scavengers  to  clear  it  off  the  face  of  the  earth 
as  speedily  as  possible.  You  see,  therefore, 
that,  in  fighting  with  these  insect  and  vege- 
table foes  in  growing  our  food,  we  have  to  con- 


22  THANKSGIVING  SEEMONS. 

tend  with  the  great  law  of  nature  itself,  that 
the  weak  and  diseased  mnst  perish. 

But  the  list  of  enemies  in  the  presence  of 
which  our  table  is  prepared  is  not  yet  ex- 
hausted. There  are  hvimaii  enemies  as 
well  as  natural.  There  are  circumstances 
of  human  selfishness,  wrong,  and  injustice 
that  interfere  sadly  with  the  full  joy  of  har- 
vest. There  are  competitions  and  rights  which 
restrict  the  cultivation  of  the  soil;  there  are 
commercial  interests  that  cause  unequal  dis- 
tribution of  its  produce.  The  farmer's  diffi- 
culties do  not  end  with  the  gathering  in  of  the 
crop ;  he  has  to  encounter  the  difficulties  of  the 
market.  In  Eastern  lands,  where  the  govern- 
ment is  weak,  the  farmer  has  no  security  that 
he  will  reap  the  harvest  he  has  sown.  He  sows 
in  tears,  because  a  stronger  man  than  he  may 
take  the  fruit  of  his  labors.  Thus  we  see  that 
the  harvest  will  not  give  us  its  blessings  with- 
out a  stern  struggle  with  hostile  elements ;  and 
that  man  himself,  in  his  grasping  selfishness, 
places  many  obstacles  in  the  way  of  nature  pre- 
paring her  table  for  us.  And  much  as  we  may 
deplore  the  continual  recurrence  of  this  strug- 
gle, we  cannot  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  it  has 
a  beneficial  moral  effect  upon  human  char- 
acter. God  meant  it  to  be  educative.  Grod 
meant  that  the  terms  upon  which  individuals 


TABLE  PREPARED  IN  PRESENCE  OF  FOES.  23 

and  nations  hold  their  lease  of  life  should  be 
unremitting  labor  from  year  to  year.  For 
much  wickedness  is  thus  prevented  which 
idleness  would  be  sure  to  produce,  and  much 
discipline  is  thus  afforded  for  powers  of  body 
and  mind  which  would  otherwise  rust  in  in- 
glorious ease  or  be  destroyed  by  vice.  Man 
earning  and  eating  his  bread  in  the  sweat  of 
his  face  raises  himseK  in  the  scale  of  intelli- 
gence, and  exalts  and  purifies  his  moral  nature. 
And  in  having  thus  to  grow  his  food  amid  a 
continual  struggle  with  hostile  forces,  he  is 
taught  in  the  most  impressive  way  the  solemn 
lesson  of  his  dependence  upon  Grod. 

2.  But  I  pass  on  to  consider  the  table 
which  is  thus  prepared  before  us.  This 
table  is  wisely  adapted  to  our  necessities  as 
human  beings.  Our  food  does  not  consist  of 
roots,  for  these  are  too  imperfectly  organized 
to  yield  all  the  ingredients  that  man  needs  for 
his  proper  sustenance.  Roots  cannot  be  stored 
or  kept  sufficiently  long  to  last  from  year  to 
year,  and  thus  they  do  not  afford  a  basis  of 
food  for  the  leisure  and  stability  of  circum- 
stances which  man  requires  for  the  cultiva- 
tion of  the  higher  arts  of  life.  They  cannot 
be  transported  long  distances  without  waste 
and  injury,  and  thus  the  necessities  of  one 
place  be  supplied  by  the  abundance  of  another. 


24  THAKKSGIVING  SERMONS. 

It  was  attempted  to  build  up  society  in  Ireland 
upon  the  cultivation  of  a  single  root,  and  it  led 
to  laziness,  improvidence,  and  an  ignoble  con- 
tentment with  the  lowest  form  of  human  liv- 
ing, and  ended — we  cannot  help  thinking,  by 
a  merciful  judgment  of  Heaven — in  a  famine 
that  was  most  disastrous  at  the  time,  but  out 
of  which  came,  in  the  long  run,  rich  and  last- 
ing issues  of  good.  Neither,  on  the  other  hand, 
does  our  food  consist  of  fruits  spontaneously 
produced  by  long-lived  trees,  requiring  no  toil 
or  care  or  forethought  on  the  part  of  man. 
The  natives  of  countries  that  depend  for  their 
subsistence  upon  a,ny  wild  fruits  they  may  find 
are  afflicted  with  numerous  special  diseases  in 
consequence,  lead  a  low  life  of  careless  ease 
and  indulgence,  and  continue  children  in  body 
and  mind  all  their  lives.  Not  in  roots  or  in 
fruits  does  God  place  the  staple  food  of  man, 
but  on  the  highest  part  of  an  annual  grass  that 
grows  and  ripens  and  fades  every  year,  and 
every  season  needs  to  be  sown  and  reaped 
anew.  For  lessons  of  faith  and  trust  have  to 
be  taught  to  man,  and  habits  of  industry  have 
to  be  acquired  by  him,  upon  which  the  unfold- 
ing of  his  great  destiny  depends,  and  which 
nothing  but  the  cultivation  of  the  grass  of  the 
field,  which  to-day  is,  and  to-morrow  is  cast 
into  the  oven,  could  enable  him  to  learn.    In 


TABLE  PREPAEED  IN  PRESENCE  OF  FOES.  25 

the  various  corn-plants  he  finds  all  the  best 
constituents  of  nourishment  and  vigor.  They 
can  be  stored  for  a  time  of  scarcity ;  they  can 
be  transported  without  injury  to  the  most  dis- 
tant places.  Some  form  or  other  of  them  can 
be  cultivated  in  every  part  of  the  world ;  and 
on  the  basis  of  security  which  they  afford  a 
stable  society  can  be  built  up,  by  which  the 
highest  arts  of  life  and  the  noblest  forms  of 
religion  may  be  developed.  This  is  the  foun- 
dation of  our  complicated  civilization.  God 
has  ordained  that  the  scepter  of  the  world 
should  be  a  straw ;  and  were  our  corn-fields  to 
fail  throughout  the  world  all  the  vast  resources 
and  revenues  of  the  world  would  not  avail  to 
stay  the  terrible  consequences.  The  rich  and 
the  poor  would  be  overwhelmed  with  a  com- 
mon ruin.  All  the  other  riches  in  the  world, 
failing  the  riches  of  our  golden  harvest-fields, 
were  as  worthless  as  the  flash-notes  of  the 
forger. 

And  what  a  table  is  thus  spread  for  us  every 
year !  On  the  table  of  the  wilderness  is  spread 
spontaneously  a  plentiful  feast  of  grass,  wild 
fruits,  and  herbs  for  the  sustenance  of  the 
dumb,  helpless  creatures  that  can  neither  sow 
nor  reap  nor  gather  into  barns.  On  the  table 
of  the  cultivated  haunts  of  man  are  spread, 
year  after  year,  the  golden  corn-fields  which 


26  THANKSGIVmG  SEKMONS. 

witness  to  human  industry,  prudence,  and  fore- 
sight. The  influences  of  the  sky  and  earth  have 
conspired  to  produce  these  corn-fields;  the 
work  of  man  and  the  cooperation  of  God  have 
led  to  this  beneficial  result.  The  stones  of  the 
waste  have  been  slowly  and  gradually  con- 
verted into  bread.  The  many  enemies  that 
opposed  the  process  have  been  successfully 
overcome.  Beneath  the  patient  heavens  the 
miracle  of  the  multiplication  of  the  loaves  has 
been  slowly  and  gradually  prepared  over  the 
long  summer  months.  What  sacred  memories 
gather  round  the  table  thus  so  richly  fur- 
nished !  They  take  us  back  to  the  days  when 
the  world  was  young,  and  all  men  labored  in 
the  harvest-field  and  counted  its  joys  the  typi- 
cal joy  of  life.  They  link  the  ages  and  gener- 
ations together ;  and  we  feel  that  we  are  com- 
passed about  with  a  great  cloud  of  witnesses 
who  have  enjoyed  the  annual  harvests  of  the 
earth,  from  the  first  ripe  crop  that  grew  above 
the  grave  of  the  old  world — the  surety  of  all 
harvests  since. 

3.  And  this  leads  me  to  notice,  in  the  third 
place,  who  it  is  that  has  prepared  this 
tahle  for  us.  The  harvest  is  the  subject  of  a 
divine  covenant  engagement.  Our  corn-fields 
grow  and  ripen  securely  under  the  arch  of  the 
rainbow,  which  is  God's  signature  in  the  hea- 


TABLE  PREPARED  IN  PRESENCE  OF  FOES.  27 

vens  ratifying  the  covenant  that  seed-time  and 
harvest  shall  never  fail.  Never  once  has  the 
pledge  given  five  thousand  years  ago  been 
violated.  Famines  have  occurred  again  and 
again  in  the  history  of  the  race,  but  never  sim- 
ultaneously over  the  whole  world;  for  when 
there  was  a  dearth  in  Palestine  there  was  corn 
in  Egypt.  Our  table  is  thus  prepared  by  God's 
own  hand ;  and  the  miracle  of  the  multiplica- 
tion of  the  loaves  by  Jesus  was  wrought  to 
show  to  us  who  it  is  that  by  the  ordinary  laws 
of  nature,  and  the  ordinary  operations  of  hu- 
man toil  and  skill,  procures  for  us  our  annual 
harvest.  The  common  event  hides  from  us 
the  divine  hand ;  it  is  clothed  in  the  garment 
of  second  causes ;  but  the  miracle  is  wrought 
to  strip  away  this  clothing  of  second  causes,  to 
make  bare  the  Almighty  arm  and  reveal  to  us 
its  working  and  our  dependence  upon  it.  He 
who  rained  manna  directly  from  heaven,  he 
who  fed  the  multitude  at  Capernaum,  is  the 
same  who  season  after  season  raises  the  seed- 
corn  into  the  waving  harvest.  It  is  his  power 
that  makes  the  corn  germinate ;  that  preserves 
its  growing  and  ripening  from  the  storm  and 
the  drought,  the  blight  and  the  insect,  from 
the  attack  of  all  the  numerous  and  formidable 
enemies  that  are  leagued  against  it.  The  pe- 
tition in  the  Lord's  Prayer  implies  this.    We 


28  THANKSGIVING  SERMONS. 

ask  our  Father  in  heaven  to  give  us  our  daily 
bread,  as  if  it  came  direct  from  his  hand,  as  if 
we  ignored  altogether  the  part  we  ourselves 
have  to  perform  in  producing  and  earning 
it.  And  in  reality  in  every  human  operation 
man's  part  is  utterly  trifling  compared  with 
Grod's.  Without  his  power  and  blessing  the 
fields  would  yield  no  harvest,  the  benefi- 
cent operations  of  nature  would  be  frustrated. 
Without  his  power  and  blessing  the  arrange- 
ments and  conditions  of  human  society  would 
be  so  disordered  that  even  if  there  were  food, 
it  would  fail  in  many  instances  in  reaching  its 
proper  destination.  Without  his  power  and 
blessing  the  bread  itself  would  minister  disease 
and  weakness,  and  not  health  and  strength, 
and  the  table  of  the  unthankful  prove  a  snare. 
And  when  we  ask  God  to  give  us  day  by  day 
our  daily  bread,  we  simply  ask  that  Grod  would 
enable  us  to  live  from  hand  to  mouth  during 
all  our  life.  We  cannot,  as  beggars  living 
upon  God's  bounty,  ask  that  our  alms  may  be 
made  sure  by  his  giving  us  a  store  now  out  of 
which  our  daily  bread  may  come  independently 
of  his  own  providence.  We  strive  to  make 
ourselves  independent  of  circumstances.  By 
the  complicated  industries  and  arrangements 
of  civilized  life  we  seek  to  secure  a  fortune  or 
a  competency.     But  the  riches  of  the  world, 


TABLE  PREPARED  IN  PRESENCE  OF  FOES.  29 

as  I  have  said,  are  nothing  without  the  neces- 
saries of  life,  and  these  necessaries  are  preca- 
rious, and  are  only  given  year  by  year  and  day 
by  day.  We  cannot  make  ourselves  indepen- 
dent, and  no  amount  of  wealth  can  raise  us 
above  the  enjoyment  of  a  single  day's  supply. 
You  may  accumulate  property  sufficient  to  sup- 
ply you  with  food  all  your  life,  but  you  cannot 
accumulate  the  ability  to  use  that  food.  You 
must  wait  each  day  for  the  periodical  demands 
of  appetite,  or  if  you  attempt  to  overstep  these, 
you  destroy  that  appetite  altogether,  and  then 
you  are  reduced  to  the  same  destitution  as  the 
very  poorest.  And  though  you  may  feel  that 
you  will  have  enough  to  eat  all  your  life,  how 
do  you  know  that  you  will  have  health  to  en- 
joy your  food  ?  To  this  use  of  one  day's  sup- 
ply the  laws  of  Providence  restrict  the  rich  and 
the  poor  alike.    ' 

4.  Once  more  God  has  graciously  crowned 
the  year  with  his  goodness,  and  has  furnished 
a  table  for  us,  so  that  there  is  abundance 
of  food  for  man  and  beast.  And  the  mo- 
mentous question  now  is.  How  can  we  best  use 
this  precious  gift  of  God !  We  are  first  of  all 
to  partake  of  it  with  gratitude,  acknowledging 
God's  bounty  and  our  own  dependence.  We 
are  next  to  partake  of  it  in  faith.  The  Apostle 
Paul  says  that  whatever  is  not  of  faith  is  sin, 


30  THANKSGIVING  SERMONS. 

and  if  we  eat  without  faith  we  are  condemned. 
Christ  purchased  by  his  own  blood  the  neces- 
saries of  life  as  well  as  the  blessings  of  grace 
from  the  forfeiture  of  the  fall,  and  bestows 
them  upon  all  who  believe  as  covenant  bless- 
ings. The  man  who  uses  the  necessaries  of 
life  simply  as  the  fruit  of  his  own  industry  or 
skill  acts  as  the  animals  do;  and  having  no 
recognition  of  Christ's  work  in  them,  they 
deepen  his  animality  and  worldliness.  But  he 
who  receives  and  uses  them  in  faith  remembers 
how  they  were  forfeited,  and  how  they  are  re- 
stored. They  are  memorials  of  his  sin  and  of 
his  redemption ;  and  they  come  to  him  filtered 
and  strained  from  all  the  evils  of  sin,  and  sweet- 
ened with  the  blessing  that  maketh  truly  rich, 
and  with  which  no  sorrow  is  added,  and  prove 
means  of  grace  to  his  soul. 

5.  Then,  further,  the  fruits  of  the  harvest 
should  be  used  in  the  work  and  for  the 
glory  of  God.  They  came  forth  from  God, 
and  they  come  to  man,  that  through  man  and 
by  man  they  might  return  to  God  again ;  that 
the  leisure,  the  health,  the  strength,  the  bless- 
ings, which  they  impart  may  be  used  in  the 
cause  of  righteousness,  and  in  preparing  the 
way  of  the  Lord  upon  the  earth.  What  was 
meant  by  the  dedication  of  the  first-fruits  of 
the  harvest  to  God  in  the  tabernacle  and 


TABLE  PREPAEED  IN  PRESENCE  OF  FOES.  31 

temple  of  old  but  just  this:  that  as  the  first- 
fruits  were  thus  hallowed,  so  the  whole  harvest 
should  be  hallowed,  and  should  be  used  only 
for  holy  purposes  1  They  are  presented  to  God 
in  order  to  show  that  all  the  common  neces- 
saries of  life  which  they  represent  are  to  be 
sanctified  by  you  in  the  daily  common  use  you 
make  of  them ;  that  whether  you  eat  or  drink, 
or  whatsoever  you  do,  you  may  do  all  to  the 
glory  of  Grod.  And  as  they  thus  unite  you  to 
God,  so  let  them  also  unite  you  more  closely  to 
one  another.  You  are  children  of  one  family, 
sitting  at  one  table  provided  by  the  same  lov- 
ing Father ;  why,  then,  should  there  be  so  much 
of  selfish  struggle  and  competition,  so  much  of 
unnatural  covetousness  and  unloving  acquisi- 
tiveness, in  the  daily  life  of  those  who  get  day 
by  day  their  daily  bread  from  God's  own  hand  1 
Eedeemed  by  the  same  Saviour  from  the  same 
spu'itual  hunger  and  poverty  and  death,  de- 
livered from  the  same  enemies,  should  you  not 
in  carrying  out  your  own  prayer — not  "give 
me,"  but  "  give  us  this  day  our  daily  bread  " — 
seek  to  help  one  another  in  all  things,  to  pro- 
mote the  welfare  of  one  another,  that  so  the 
spirit  of  Jesus  may  be  developed  in  you,  and 
you  may  grow  together  into  greater  likeness  to 
your  Father  in  heaven  1 


THE  FATHERHOOD  OF  GOD  AND 
THE  BROTHEEHOOD  OF  MAN. 

BY  THE  REV.  CHARLES  NEIL,  M.A. 

■'  He  maketh  his  sun  to  rise  on  the  evil  and  on  the  good,  and 
sendeth  rain  on  the  just  and  on  the  unjust." — Matthew  v.  45. 

In  the  Bible  frequent  use  is  made  of  the 
realms  of  nature  for  the  purpose  of  furnishing 
bold  and  powerful  illustrations,  as  well  as  for 
the  enforcing  of  important  religious  doctrines. 
Such  a  method  of  instruction  is  in  danger  of 
being  somewhat  overlooked  in  days  like  our 
own,  when  the  stream  of  human  life  is  irresisti- 
bly discharging  itself  from  the  country  into  the 
city,  and  the  sights  and  sounds  of  civilization 
have  an  increasingly  strong  tendency  to  draw 
off  the  mind  from  the  devout  contemplation  of 
the  glorious  handiworks  of  God.  This  neglect 
is  much  to  be  deplored ;  because  for  the  com- 
plete education  of  man  all  the  books  of  Grod — 
the  Book  of  Nature  no  less  than  the  Book  of 
Revelation — require  to  be  religiously  studied. 
Everywhere  and  at  all  times  we  should  possess 

32 


THE  FATHEKHOOD   OF  GOD.  33 

an  observant  eye  and  an  adoring  spirit.  To 
all  alike  nature  may  in  a  very  real  sense  be  the 
chart  of  Grod,  the  mirror  of  the  divine  attri- 
butes, and  a  religious  volume  replete  with  les- 
sons for  daily  guidance : 

"  In  contemplation  of  created  tMngs, 
By  steps  we  may  ascend  to  God/' 

Not  only  is  the  substitution  of  bricks  and 
mortar  for  green  fields  and  "  the  philosopher's 
garden"  unfavorable  conditions  to  that  de- 
lightful art  of  meditation  which  makes  truth 
always  ready  and  present  to  us,  but  the  study 
of  the  physical  sciences,  frequently  conducted 
without  due  reverence,  as  well  as  the  confusion 
of  thought  respecting  the  law  of  phenomena 
displayed  both  in  common  parlance  and  also  in 
learned  treatises,  have  prevented  men  from  ris- 
ing easily  from  nature  to  nature's  Grod.  To-day 
it  is  no  very  easy  task,  even  if  we  can  aspiringly 
fix  the  mind  upon  created  things,  to  scan  them 
with  the  simple  faith  and  childlike  interest  of 
our  non-scientific  but  reverent  forefathers. 

Around  our  generation  a  materiahstic  spirit 
hangs  like  a  distorting  atmosphere,  and  causes 
nature  and  God  to  appear  almost  one  and  the 
same,  and  Grod  to  be  regarded  so  absolutely 
everywhere,  and  so  perfectly  identified  with 
everything,  that  he  is  really  nowhere  person- 


34  THANKSGIVING   SERMONS. 

ally  present  as  the  upholder  of  anything.  Or 
else,  if  modern  thought  does  not  deify  the  ob- 
jects of  nature,  it  practically  does  the  laws  of 
nature. 

As  a  preliminary  step,  then,  to  religious  re- 
flection upon  the  works  of  God  we  must  study 
to  remove  the  haze  created  by  the  want  of 
clearness  of  definition  in  modern  thought.  We. 
need  to  reassert  the  old  but  forgotten  truth  that 
the  primary  and  ultimate  division  of  thought 
is  found  in  the  ideas  of  Grod  and  nature.  What 
is  not  nature  is  God,  the  Triune  God,  Father, 
Son,  and  Holy  Ghost ;  what  is  not  God  is  na- 
ture in  some  or  other  of  its  manifold  kingdom. 
God  may  for  purposes  of  worship  be  viewed  as 
standing  alone,  dwelling  in  light  which  no  man 
can  approach  unto ;  while  nature  should  ever 
and  anon  be  regarded  as  the  object  of  God's 
creative  and  sustaining  energy : 

''Nature  is  but  a  name  for  an  effect, 
Whose  cause  is  God." 

The  so-called  laws  of  natiu'e  are  not  in 
natiu'e,  but  in  the  mind  of  Him  who  has 
power  over  all  nature.  Sun,  moon,  and 
stars ;  hail,  rain,  and  vapor ;  the  known  and 
unknown  fructifying  powers  in  the  universe, 
exist  because  God  exists  and  "  feeds  the  secret 
fire  by  which  the  mighty  process  is  main- 


THE  FATHEEHOOD  OF  GOD.  35 

tained."  The  death  (if  such  a  thought  could  be 
conceived)  of  the  Creator  would  be  the  instant 
death  of  all  creaturehood  and  the  absolute  an- 
nihilation of  everything.  The  worlds  moving 
in  their  appointed  courses,  and  the  seasons  re- 
turning in  their  regular  succession  and  won- 
derful changes,  are  the  result  of  the  ever-as- 
serted will  and  ever-operative  power  of  the 
Supreme  Ruler  of  the  universe.  Every  phe- 
nomena of  nature  at  each  stage  of  existence  is 
the  revelation  of  the  Divine  Mind,  and  pro- 
claims the  constant  outgoings  of  divine  energy, 
albeit,  in  a  world  enveloped  in  mystery,  in  a 
world  designed  as  a  stage  for  man's  mental  and 
moral  training,  and  in  a  world  where  only  part 
— a  very  small  part — of  the  divine  purposes  are 
discernible,  there  must  necessarily  be  apparent 
contradictions  to  general  principles.  Nay,  a 
partial  and  hasty  observer  might  easily  be  led 
to  draw  faulty  and  positively  false  conclusions 
respecting  the  divine  attributes.  Still,  despite 
volcanoes,  wild  tornadoes,  pestilential  marshes, 
poisoned  vegetation  around  peopled  cities,  the 
blazing  prairie,  the  desolating  and  dark  forest 
into  which  the  sunlight  never  penetrates,  and 
despite  the  cries  of  pain  from  this  Eden  of  ours, 
yet  we  can  read  in  unmistakable  characters  the 
universal  benevolence  of  God  in  the  daily  bless- 
ings showered  down  alike  upon  his  thankful 


36  THANKSGIVING  SEEMONS. 

or  unthankful,  his  loving  or  rebellious  off- 
spring. "  He  maketh  his  sun  to  shine  on  the 
evil  and  on  the  good,  and  sendeth  rain  on  the 
just  and  on  the  unjust." 

We  have  not  hesitated  to  dwell  thus  upon 
the  relation  of  God  and  nature.  Correct  views 
upon  this  subject,  no  less  than  upon  the  rela- 
tion of  God  to  ourselves,  are  helpful  for  the 
forming  of  a  true  estimate  of  daily  mercies. 
To  use  the  sickle  to  the  richly  laden  and  golden 
ears  of  corn,  to  fill  our  garners  with  plenty,  to 
partake  of  the  varied  fruits  of  the  earth,  to  re- 
joice in  the  harvest,  and  to  view  all  the  pro- 
cesses of  nature  as  due  to  the  laws  in  nature 
and  to  the  laws  in  the  mind  of  God,  and  as  the 
results  of  a  self-adjusting  instrument,  and  not 
of  the  working  of  an  ever-living  and  ever-lov- 
ing Father,  will  as  surely  eat  out  the  spirit  of 
worship  as  if  we  substituted  either  the  pan- 
theon of  the  cultured  heathen  or  the  fetish  of 
the  uncultured  savage  in  place  of  our  God  and 
Saviour. 

God,  who  knows  what  is  in  those  made 
by  himself  in  his  own  image,  does  not  pro- 
vide for  our  necessities  by  a  vast  and  huge 
machine  called  nature,  which  continues  to 
work  by  itself  by  a  once-for-all  imparted  mo- 
tion. Either  to  identify  God  with  his  works, 
or  to  remove  God  so  far  from  them  that  he  is 


THE   FATHERHOOD   OF   GOD.  37 

in  no  real  sense  a  personal  God,  not  only  dis- 
honors him,  but  brings  actual  and  definite  loss 
to  ourselves.  If  we  suppose,  for  instance,  that 
food  is  produced  })y  an  automatic,  unlovable 
machine,  why,  men  will  eat  it  without  giving 
of  thanks,  forfeit  a  large  measure  of  enjoyment, 
and  lack  the  highest  incentives  to  right  living 
and  brotherly  feeling.  In  every-day  life  no 
possessions  are  more  valued  by  right-minded 
persons  than  those  which  are  the  tangible  ex- 
pressions of  the  personal  and  affectionate  re- 
gard of  friends.  Applying  this  principle  to  the 
gifts  at  harvest-tide,  what  rich  stores  of  delight 
does  a  Christian,  in  contradistinction  to  the 
mere  scientist,  secure,  in  the  fact  that  in  pre- 
cious grain,  welcome  fruit,  and  autumnal  rich 
tints  he  can  trace  for  himself,  his  family  and 
his  friends,  and  the  world  at  large,  the  loving 
care  and  personal  forethought  of  his  Heavenly 
Father,  without  whom  there  would  have  been 
no  rain  to  soften  the  earth  for  the  growth  of 
the  seed,  and  no  sun  year  by  year  to  ripen  the 
harvest  with  its  rejuvenating  gladness  I 

This  thought  can  be  further  pursued  with 
profit.  To  connect  the  supply  of  our  daily  wants 
with  the  active  and  direct  working  of  God  for 
his  children  enables  us  to  obtain  proper 
views  about  our  proprietary  rights.  We 
are  not  the  irresponsible  owners  under  a  ma- 


38  THANKSGIVING  SERMONS. 

terialistic  sway,  but  the  responsible  recipients 
under  the  rule  of  a  wise  and  beneficent  Sover- 
eign ;  we  are  the  stewards  and  trustees  rather 
than  absolute  possessors.  True,  we  may  use 
our  blessings  for  ourselves,  but  we  must  not 
use  them  arbitrarily  or  capriciously,  but  with 
due  regard  to  the  will  of  God  as  faintly  discerni- 
ble by  the  twilight  of  nature  and  clearly  re- 
vealed in  the  written  Word.  We  must  restrain 
our  selfish  and  indulge  our  benevolent  affec- 
tions. We  must  make  some  definite  acknow- 
ledgment, by  our  gifts  to  others,  for  the  gifts 
which  Grod,  not  for  our  deserts,  but  in  his  good- 
ness, hath  put  into  our  hands.  We  must  not 
permit  the  cares  of  life,  the  friendships  of  life, 
or  the  pleasures  of  sense  to  so  absorb  our  time 
as  to  prevent  the  performance  of  kindly  offices 
to  our  less  favored  neighbors.  Nor  must  we 
make  strict  justice  and  distrustful  calculations 
the  arbiters  of  our  charities.  Freely  we  have 
received  from  the  common  Father  of  all,  freely 
we  must  give  to  our  brethren. 

Say  what  men  may,  "  brotherhood,"  in 
any  real  sense  of  the  term,  is  the  creation 
and  child  of  Christianity.  No  doubt  the 
idea  has  become  more  familiar  to  men's  minds 
by  commercial  treaties,  the  easy  facility  of  in- 
tercourse afforded  by  means  of  rapid  and  cheap 
traveling,  by  the  more  definite  assertion  over 


THE   FATHERHOOD   OF   GOD.  39 

all  the  civilized  world  of  the  rights  of  man  as 
man.  Nevertheless  it  is  a  snare  and  delusion 
to  suppose  that  these  national  tokens  would 
have  existed  in  their  present  degree  but  for 
the  influence  of  Christianity  directly  and  in- 
directly exerted ;  while  for  Christians  it  would 
be  a  sign  of  spiritual  ignorance  and  want  of 
faith  to  imagine  that  the  brotherhood  of  man- 
kind can  securely  rest  upon  an  accidental,  util- 
itarian, or  political  basis. 

The  Fatherhood  of  Grod  and  the  brotherhood 
of  man,  belief  in  Christ  as  the  Elder  Brother 
and  the  attainment  of  the  highest  possible  hu- 
man culture,  are  pairs  of  truths  indissolubly 
united  and  inseparably  linked  together.  The 
Fatherhood  of  God,  understood  in  its  Christian 
and  full  significance,  is  the  principle  to  secure 
steady,  onward  progress  of  the  world,  and  the 
remedy  for  the  constantly  occurring  practical 
evils  which  arise  out  of  the  altered  and  ever- 
altering  phases  of  life  in  a  restless  age.  It  is 
the  duty  of  the  patriotic  political  economist, 
as  well  as  of  the  practical  preacher  of  the  gos- 
pel, to  proclaim  far  and  wide  that  the  Father- 
hood of  God  is  the  real  point  of  contact  be- 
tween religious  and  social  movements,  and 
between  secular  and  Christian  philanthropy. 
The  teaching  of  Christianity,  which  was  not 
really  practical  enough  in  its  scope,  accounts 


40  THANKSGIVING  SERMONS. 

in  a  great  measure  for  the  alienation  of  the 
sons  of  toil  from  existing  religions  establish- 
ments. The  truer  and  more  comprehensive 
idea  of  Christian  life  now  gaining  ground  is 
one  of  the  happy  omens  of  our  future  welfare. 
There  are  points  of  contact  between  all  de- 
partments of  life,  and  each  depends  upon  the 
other  for  complete  and  healthy  development. 
The  onward  march  of  civilization  is  only  pos- 
sible when  progress  is  made  simultaneously  in 
all  branches  of  knowledge  and  in  all  spheres  of 
life.  Hence  natural  prosperity  depends  upon 
quickened  life  in  all  directions.  We  stand 
in  need  of  leaders  of  Christianity  who  will 
make  it  clear,  beyond  possibility  of  mistake, 
that  when  they  bid  men  say,  "Our  Father 
which  art  in  heaven,"  they  are  willing  practi- 
cally and  fully  to  give  expression  to  the  prin- 
ciple of  brotherhood  and  sisterhood  involved 
in  this  opening  address  of  the  Lord's  Prayer. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  leaders  of  social  and 
political  movements  must  learn  not  to  fondly 
dream  that  the  regeneration  of  the  world  can 
be  effected  without  acknowledgment  of  a  per- 
sonal God,  and  of  the  true  principle  of  the 
Fatherhood  of  God,  which  receives  its  right 
interpretation  alone  in  the  incarnation  of  Jesus 
Christ,  who  is  at  once  the  all-sufficient  sacrifice 


THE  FATHERHOOD   OF   GOD.  41 

for  our  sins  and  the  only  perfect  example  for 
all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men. 

To  the  words  of  our  Lord  let  us,  then,  go  for 
principles  which  should  be  the  guide  at  once 
of  the  patriotic  philanthropist,  politician,  sci- 
entist, and  religionist. 

The  text  accentuates  and  emphasizes  the 
comprehensive  as  well  as  the  practical  char- 
acter of  our  Pleavenly  Father's  benevo- 
lence, and  holds  it  up  for  the  imitation  of  his 
sons.  Inattention  to  this  lesson  in  the  past 
explains  much  of  the  church's  failure.  Atten- 
tion to  it  in  the  present  is  necessary  if  we  de- 
sire future  national  blessing.  Its  neglect  for- 
merly has  been  perilous ;  its  neglect  now  under 
the  strained  relationships  of  society  would  be 
well-nigh  fatal.  Until  lately  it  was  not  a  rec- 
ognized principle  that  it  is  the  bounden  duty 
of  every  church  that  assembles  for  worship,  in 
accordance  with  the  Master's  direct  and  express 
orders,  to  do  its  part  and  duty  in  the  fur- 
therance of  mission  efforts  at  home  and  abroad. 
Until  lately  it  was  the  shame  of  the  church  of 
Christ  that  it  allowed  vast  masses  to  congre- 
gate in  poorer  neighborhoods  without  ade- 
quate spiritual  provision  and  brotherly  and 
kindly  instruction.  Until  lately,  though  God 
caused  the  sun  to  shine  to  gladden  all  hearts. 


42  THANKSGIVING   SERMONS. 

yet  we,  liis  children,  did  next  to  nothing  to 
brighten  the  surroundings  of  those  toilers  for 
our  necessities,  and  in  many  cases  for  our  lux- 
uries, who  passed  monotonous  and  insufferably 
dull  lives,  not  always  through  their  own  fault, 
but  far  oftener  through  strange  misfortunes, 
unbrotherly  exactions,  and  sometimes  through 
unequal  laws  made  in  the  interest  of  the  fa- 
vored one  at  the  expense  of  the  forgotten  ninety 
and  nine.  Until  lately,  in  our  appeals  to  our 
struggling  brethren,  we  put  forward  the  terrors 
of  the  law  rather  than  the  love  of  the  gospel, 
and  seemed  to  wonder  that  cold  and  often  life- 
less presentations  of  saving  truth  and  repul- 
sive caricatures  of  the  divine  character  did  not 
win  them  to  Christ.  Until  lately  we  thought 
that  authority  rather  than  brotherly  sympathy 
would  enable  the  church  to  hold  her  own  and 
gallantly  speed  her  way.  Things  are  now 
happily  changing,  but  there  is  considerable 
room  for  improvement;  and,  be  it  remem- 
bered, our  personal  responsibility  for  better- 
ing them  has  greatly  increased  during  the  last 
few  years,  when  enlightened  and  sounder  ideas 
of  Christian  brotherhood  are  disseminated. 

Among  the  sociological  "  finds  "  of  the  cen- 
tury we  might  safely  name  the  fact  of  the 
necessity  of  personal  contact  between  soul  and 
soul  as  the  true  secret  of  effecting  the  highest 


THE  FATHERHOOD   OF  GOD.  43 

and  noblest  results  for  the  social  and  spiritual 
regeneration  of  mankind.  Stately  churches, 
sumptuous  services,  and  eloquent  sermons 
exert  a  mighty  influence;  but  in  order  to 
make  the  religion  of  Christ  find  its  way 
through  the  intricacies  of  courts  and  alleys, 
from  cellar  to  garret,  to  the  nooks  and  corners 
of  the  hitherto  spiritually  uncared-for  spots  of 
our  cities,  there  must  be  more  brotherly  and 
sisterly  service.  For  the  success  of  aggressive 
Christianity  this  is  the  one  prime  crying  need. 
Without  it  Christianity  cannot  become  the  re- 
ligion of  the  masses;  with  it,  if  sufficiently 
Christ-like  in  character,  there  are  no  achieve- 
ments beyond  the  power  of  the  church.  In 
proportion  as  love  is  self-sacrificing  and  sym- 
pathy seen  to  be  a  thing  not  far  off,  but  some- 
thing near  at  hand,  in  that  proportion  will  the 
stoutest  hearts  be  broken,  the  most  degraded 
lives  be  reformed,  and  souls  apparently  lost 
beyond  recovery  be  won  to  Christ.  In  all  or- 
ganizations for  political  and  social  purposes, 
no  less  than  for  moral  and  religious,  the  lesson 
is  being  slowly  but  surely  learned,  that  the 
material  may  affect  the  material,  but  that  mind 
can  alone  affect  mind,  and  personal  contact  and 
close  intercourse  are  necessary  for  allegiance 
and  loyalty  to  the  cause  which  is  advocated. 
No  institution  can  now  hope  to  survive  as  a 


44  THANKSGIVING  SEKMONS. 

living  and  powerful  factor  among  civilized  11:1- 
tions  by  the  might  and  majesty  of  the  most 
perfect  machinery,  unless  worked  by  living 
and  devoted  agents  v»^ho  are  prepared  to  make 
the  necessary  sacrifices  and  to  shirk  none  of 
their  resjjonsibilities. 

The  truth,  indeed,  has  at  last  gone  forth  in 
our  churches,  that  the  practical  Christian  who 
brings  the  power  of  a  loving  and  warm  heart 
to  instruct  the  ignorant,  clothe  the  naked,  feed 
the  hungry,  make  the  widow's  heart  leap  for 
joy,  befriend  the  friendless,  does  more  infinite 
good  than  the  learned  and  selfish  recluse,  and 
the  formal  professor,  boastful  of  his  religious 
privilege,  but  forgetful  of  Lazarus  at  his  door- 
step. The  truth,  however,  has  not  yet  gone 
sufiiciently  abroad,  that  all  omitted  expres- 
sions of  the  brotherhood  of  man  as  taught  by 
the  Fatherhood  of  God  are,  in  the  case  of 
Christian  people,  as  criminal  and  injurious  to 
the  world  as  breaches  of  the  second  table  of 
the  Decalogue. 

There  is  another  idea  in  regard  to  the  benev- 
olence of  Grod  which  is  in  the  text  held  up  for 
our  example:  in  our  services  of  love  Tve 
must  not  be  fitful  nor  too  rig^idly  fixed. 
There  must  be  a  variety  of  ivisely  directed^ 
carefully  planned^  and  well-sustained  efforts. 
In  business  concerns  the  desire  to  succeed, 


THE  FATHEKHOOD   OF  GOD.  45 

when  really  powerfully  operative,  suggests,  so 
to  speak,  by  intuition  the  necessary  and  suc- 
cessive steps  to  be  taken  to  crown  efforts  with 
complete  success.  So  ought  it  to  be  in  matters 
relating  to  the  kingdom  of  God.  Real  love  and 
intense  zeal  for  souls  ought  to  make  us  happy 
in  the  discovery  of  ideas  for  doing  good,  and 
fertile  in  resources  for  usefully  carrying  them 
out.  Moreover,  never  let  it  be  forgotten  that 
in  Christian  understanding  we  have  one  im- 
mense advantage.  The  promise  of  the  Father 
is  ours  as  well  as  that  of  the  apostles :  the  Holy 
Spirit  is  present  in  pentecostal  fullness  to  guide 
us  into  all  the  necessary  truths  for  the  right  dis- 
charge of  our  duties  and  responsibilities  in  the 
days  we  live.  Vast  and  appalling  may  seem 
the  problems  before  the  church,  viewed  either 
in  its  individual  or  corporate  aspect,  but  in  the 
sphere  of  our  influence  let  the  sunshine  and  the 
rain  descend  in  due  proportions,  and  there  will 
be  a  glorious  ingathering  into  the  harvest  of 
the  nineteenth  century  before  this  last  decade 
finally  closes.  Simpler  ways  of  preaching  the 
truth,  more  catholicity  of  benevolence,  fuller 
belief  in  the  Fatherly  love  of  God  for  all  the 
race  as  evidenced  in  the  gift  of  his  Son,  more 
tangible  brotherly  sympathy,  and  deeper  striv- 
ing to  bring  back  those  outside  the  church,  and, 
highest  grace  of  all,  to  love  our  enemies — tbese 


46  THANKSGIVING   SEEMONS. 

are  some  of  the  practical  lessons  suggested  by 
the  teaching  of  the  text,  and  demanded  imper- 
atively by  these  times,  in  which  there  are  such 
wonderful  facilities  for  brotherly  and  sisterly 
service,  while  at  the  same  time  such  festering 
sores  to  be  healed,  such  ill-will  existing  between 
various  orders  of  society  where  good- will  might 
long  ago  have  reigned  triumphantly. 

Too  httle,  indeed,  has  been  thought  or 
spoken  or  written  about  the  fact  that  amid  all 
the  glories  of  religion,  true  benevolence,  ani- 
mated by  Christian  motive  and  directed  by 
Christian  ends,  is  the  most  resplendent ;  in  the 
power  of  all  to  be  exercised ;  perhaps  the  most 
crowning  evidence  to  the  world  in  favor  of  the 
religion  of  Christ ;  and  certain  in  no  wise  to  go 
unrewarded.  It  is  thus  that  we  should  prove 
ourselves  to  be  true  sons  and  daughters  of 
our  Father,  whose  glorious  sun  shines  for  all 
classes,  and  whose  refreshing  rain  enriches  all 
our  lands. 


THE  PARABLE   OF  HARVEST. 

BY  THE  REV.  W.  J.  DAWSON. 

"  Thou  shalt  come  to  thy  grave  in  a  full  age,  like  as  a  shock 
of  corn  cometh  in  his  season." — Job  v.  26. 

The  beauty  of  this  text  is  greatly  heightened 
by  the  more  literal  translation,  "  like  as  a  shock 
of  wheat  that  is  lifted  up."  It  is  a  perfect  vis- 
ion of  the  closing  days  of  harvest.  The  fields 
are  reaped,  the  mountains  rise  blue  and  clear 
in  the  setting  sun,  the  reapers  bind  the  last 
sheaf,  and  it  is  lifted  into  the  heavy  wagons 
with  shouts  of  joy  and  songs  of  harvest-home. 
It  is  the  consummation  of  the  year :  the  last 
triumphant  act  in  a  long  drama  of  skill  and 
patience.  Many  months  before  the  sower  fore- 
saw this  hour,  when  he  went  out  in  the  bleak 
winds  to  sow  the  seed,  and  ever  since  then 
Grod  and  man  have  been  busy  to  produce  the 
harvest.  The  heavens  share  the  triumph,  for 
they  sent  the  rain ;  and  the  sun,  for  it  pierced 
the  hidden  seed  with  glowing  arrows ;  and  the 
soil,  for  it  held  it  warm  as  in  a  mother's  hand ; 
in  its  quickening  the  earth  conspired,  and  in 

47 


48  THANKSGIVING  SEEMONS. 

its  ingathering  the  earth  rejoices.  Had  one 
single  actor  in  the  drama  failed,  all  had  failed ; 
rain  without  sun  would  have  bred  corruption, 
and  sun  without  rain  would  have  ruined  all, 
and  all  the  forces  of  God  without  man's  help 
would  have  been  impotent  and  insufficient. 
The  corn-field  is  the  meeting-place  of  God 
and  man;  they  keep  tryst  among  the  golden 
sheaves  as  of  old  in  the  cool  of  Paradise.  God 
depends  upon  man,  for  the  corn,  unlike  other 
growths  of  nature,  must  be  sown  and  watched 
and  tended,  if  it  would  thrive ;  it  will  not  grow 
wild.  And  man  depends  upon  God,  for  he 
watereth  the  hills  from  his  chambers,  and 
maketh  the  valleys  green  with  the  springing 
thereof,  and  from  first  to  last  shields  and 
blesses  the  delicate  life  of  the  corn,  in  which 
is  the  life  of  man.  Every  harvest-field  is  a 
place  of  reconciliation  between  God  and  man ; 
it  is  the  temple  where  his  Fatherly  presence 
may  be  felt ;  it  is  the  point  of  accord  where 
nature  meets  her  human  tenant,  and  crowns 
him  with  the  glory  of  her  sunshine  and  the 
benediction  of  her  peace,  and  thus  bids  him 
rejoice  in  the  victory  of  order,  of  law,  and  of 
love. 

1.  The  first  parable  of  harvest,  then,  is 
that  liarvest  is  Grod's  memorial  and  the 
parable  of  his  love. 


THE  PABABLE  OF  HARVEST.        49 

His  promise  is  that,  while  the  bow  is  in  the 
heaven,  springtime  and  harvest  shall  not  fail. 
No  year  comes  when  that  bridge  of  trembling 
beauty  is  not  thrown  across  the  firmament, 
and  when  the  rain  and  the  light,  who  are  the 
master  architects  and  artists  which  produce 
it,  do  not  bless  the  earth  and  make  it  fruitful. 
And  God  sets  the  bow  for  a  sign,  a  bright 
watcher  or  minister,  to  declare  his  good-will 
toward  us. 

This  may  seem  a  very  old  or  a  very  obvious 
legend,  but  at  all  events  it  is  a  truth,  and  one 
which  we  do  well  to  remember.  I  am  not  sur- 
prised if  we  who  dwell  in  cities,  or  even  the 
bulk  of  people  in  our  villages,  do  not  remem- 
ber it,  and  do  not  care  to  ponder  it.  We  have 
long  ceased  to  live  upon  the  fruit  of  our  own 
soil.  A  good  harvest  or  a  bad  harvest  makes 
really  small  difference  to  us :  are  not  our  ships 
scouring  every  sea,  and  does  not  the  whole 
earth  yield  us  tribute  1  Our  harvest  is  reaped 
in  a  hundred  lands  by  men  who  never  knew 
us  and  never  heard  of  us.  It  makes  scant 
difference  to  us  that  our  corn-fields  do  not 
whiten  fast  enough  and  do  not  yield  much : 
the  weather  of  the  whole  world  must  conspire 
against  us  before  men  cry  for  bread  in  our 
streets.  We  have  taken  steam  for  our  part- 
ner, and  he  puts  out  his  giant  hands  and  gath- 


50  THANKSGIVING  SEKMONS. 

ers  on  a  thousand  hills  what  our  lands  may  not 
give  should  harvests  fail,  and  carries  over 
leagues  of  foaming  waste  the  world's  harvest 
to  our  doors.  It  is  well  it  should  be  so ;  but 
great  as  steam  is,  there  is  still  a  God,  and  we 
are  still  dependent  on  him.  It  is  well  all  this 
should  be ;  but  because  we  do  not  watch  over 
our  wheat-fields  with  fear,  let  us  not  forget 
that  we  are  still  fed  from  the  hand  of  the  Most 
High.  There  is  great  danger  among  us  both 
of  the  callousness  of  prosperity  and  the  secu- 
rity of  presumption.  We  are  no  longer  brought 
close  to  God  in  the  tilling  of  the  soil  as  our 
fathers  were,  and  therefore  we  are  no  longer 
made  to  feel  that,  work  as  we  will,  we  must 
wait  for  him  to  loosen  the  bands  of  the  clouds 
and  open  the  windows  of  heaven :  the  uncer- 
tainties, the  despondencies,  the  eagerness  of 
hope  and  fear  common  to  all  tillers  of  the  soil 
a  hundred  years  ago,  are  gone  for  us.  Yet  we 
cannot  altogether  ignore  God  and  be  our  own 
Providence ;  the  harvest  is  still  his  great  me- 
morial, his  high  and  sacred  sign  of  Fatherly 
care. 

The  wheat-harvests  of  the  world  are  miracu- 
lous. In  the  East  it  is  the  one  supreme  event 
of  the  year.  Take  a  picture  which  explains  it. 
Look  at  that  group  of  bronzed  men  standing 
by  the  river's  bank.    With  what  eagerness 


THE  PAEABLE  OF  HAKVEST.        51 

they  watch  the  great  stream  as  it  flows  along, 
and  how  intently  they  mark  the  scale  of  inches 
on  the  post  which  measures  its  depth !  What 
are  they  doing  1  They  stand  beside  the  Nile, 
and  are  waiting  for  its  rise.  On  that  rise  every- 
thing depends :  the  food,  the  comfort,  the  exis- 
tence of  a  people.  Every  inch  registered  on 
that  Nilometer  is  bread  for  thousands,  and  the 
great  flood  bears  with  it  from  the  far  places  of 
the  Dark  Continent  healing  for  the  nations. 
For  many  hundred  years  it  has  not  failed,  but 
not  the  less  each  year  the  banks  are  lined  with 
anxious  watchers,  who  wait  and  hope,  for 
whom  God  pours  out  the  floods  in  mountain 
depths  a  thousand  leagues  away,  and  whose 
meal  will  be  thus  prepared  in  due  season. 

Or  look  again.  The  scene  is  western  India. 
For  months  the  land  has  lain  under  the  fierce 
heat  like  a  parched  and  panting  thing.  "  All 
that  was  green  upon  its  face  of  grass  or  herb- 
age or  flowery  shrub  has  withered  to  a  yel- 
low, sickly  hue.  The  trees  droop  with  dusty 
branches  and  faded  leaves.  The  rivers,  which 
were  the  earth's  veins,  are  dried  up,  and  are 
seen  no  longer ;  the  sun  rises  in  the  morning 
like  a  globe  of  fire,  and  sets  at  evening  like  a 
blood-red  furnace.  The  wells  have  given  out, 
and  the  cattle  that  should  work  them  moan 
with  the  heat  under  the  thickest  shade.     The 


52  THANKSGIVING  SEKMONS. 

soil  of  the  fields  is  split  up  by  the  burning  heat 
into  wide  fissures ;  the  birds  are  hushed,  and 
the  beasts  of  the  forest  and  jungle  cower  round 
the  few  patches  of  water  remaining  in  the 
woodland  hollows."  For  many  a  week  no 
cloud  has  broken  the  blinding  wall  of  the  blue 
sky,  but  now,  look!  at  last  one  faint  white 
cloudlet  appears  to  seaward.  "Another  and 
another  cloudlet  appears  near  it,  and  the  set- 
ting sun  steeps  them  in  flaming  crimson,  fall- 
ing itself  behind  a  black  bar  edged  with  molten 
gold."  The  next  day  the  sky  is  black,  and 
strange  wafts  of  wind  blow.  The  next  night 
faint  lightning  gleams  in  the  west,  and  the  low 
roll  of  distant  thunder  is  heard.  The  air  is  full 
of  sound,  the  earth  seems  troubled;  strange 
thrills  and  tremors  run  through  the  bosom  of 
the  mighty  mother,  and  then  there  falls  a  great 
silence.  The  silence  is  profound  and  solemn, 
and  the  Hindu  says  that  the  sea  is  coming  to 
the  help  of  the  earth.  Then,  at  last,  in  a  single 
instant,  the  lightning  has  leaped  like  an  un- 
sheathed sword  from  the  blackness,  the  thun- 
der bursts,  and  then,  O  joy!  one  big,  warm 
raindrop  falls,  then  another,  then  the  tender 
plash  and  patter,  then  the  swift,  sudden,  over- 
whelming rush  of  loosened  waters,  and  there 
is  a  sound  of  abundance  of  rain.  It  is  the  first 
time  a  drop  of  rain  has  fallen  since  the  pre- 


THE  PARABLE  OF  HARVEST.        53 

vious  autumn,  and  the  news  is  flashed  round 
the  globe :  "  The  monsoon  has  burst !  " 

And  if  you  have  no  better  explanation  of 
this  beneficent  rainfall  for  which  the  land  waits 
than  the  learned  jangle  of  atmospheric  science, 
you  mistake  the  means  for  the  source,  for  its 
source  has  been  explained  long  ago  when  the 
psalmist  said,  "  These  all  wait  upon  thee :  thou 
openest  thy  hand,  they  are  filled  with  good: 
thou  hidest  thy  face,  they  are  troubled :  thou 
sendest  forth  thy  spirit,  they  are  created." 
That  is  the  first  and  chief  lesson  of  the  har- 
vest :  we  are  God's  pensioners,  and  he  spreads 
the  table  in  the  wilderness.  And  so  far  from 
our  independence  of  our  own  harvest  render- 
ing us  more  independent  of  Grod,  it  renders  us 
the  more  dependent.  Is  it  not  said  that  when 
the  men  of  Bethshemesh  were  reaping  their 
wheat-harvest  they  lifted  up  their  eyes  and 
saw  the  ark  of  Grod,  and  rejoiced  to  see  it? 
They  looked  up — they,  girded  for  toil  and  wet 
with  the  sweat  of  labor — and  lo !  in  the  corn- 
field stood  a  holy  thing,  covered  with  the  wings 
of  the  golden  cherubim  and  holding  the  mys- 
tery of  God,  and  they  rejoiced.  Even  so  the 
ark  of  God  stands  in  our  harvest-fields,  more 
glorious  than  the  autumn  light,  more  golden 
than  the  autumn  weather.  If  we  lift  up  our 
eyes  we  too  shall  see  it,  and  our  thankfulness 


54  THANKSGIVING  SERMONS. 

will  take  the  diviner  tone  of  worship,  while 
we  rejoice  with  the  joy  of  harvest. 

2.  Take  another  parable  of  harvest.  Eliphaz 
speaks  of  a  full  old  age,  full  of  records,  mem- 
ories, achievements;  and  he  illustrates  it  by 
the  corn.  Does  he  not  teach  in  this  that  the 
order  of  the  world  is  use  first  and  beauty 
second  ?  There  are  many  things  more  beau- 
tiful than  corn.  True,  it  has  a  certain  humble 
grace  of  its  own ;  but  it  is  the  democratic  grace 
of  the  worker,  not  the  aristocratic  grace  of  the 
idler.  The  corn  is  rough  and  simple ;  it  holds 
its  handful  of  innocent  grain  aloft  and  says, 
"  I  have  no  scent,  no  beauty  that  you  should 
desire  me,  neither  the  whiteness  of  the  lily  nor 
the  odor  of  the  rose,  neither  the  grace  of  their 
form  nor  the  exquisiteness  of  their  workman- 
ship ;  but  I  have  what  they  have  not,  and  what 
is  worth  far  more  than  color  or  fragrance — I 
have  bread  for  the  toiler,  and  food  for  the  hun- 
gry." We  all  acknowledge  the  force  of  that 
claim.  You  could  live  in  a  world  without 
roses,  but  not  in  a  world  without  corn ;  you 
like  to  have  perfume,  but  you  must  have  bread. 
And  if  you  will  measure  beauty  by  use,  the 
corn  might  say,  "  Who  is  more  beautiful  than 
I,  who  kindle  health  in  children's  faces  and  put 
vigor  into  men's  sinews  ?  T  am  better  worth 
the  love  of  men  than  the  lily  that  withers  in  a 


THE  PARABLE  OF  HARVEST.       55 

day,  or  the  rose  out  of  which  is  crushed  the 
delicate  perfume  which  at  best  adds  a  lux- 
ury to  life  and  fills  only  the  chambers  of  the 
wealthy  with  its  fragrance."  That  is  the  claim 
of  the  corn.  And  have  you  noticed  that  that 
is  Christ's  claim  too?  He  never  illustrates 
himself  by  a  superfluity.  He  is  bread,  he  is 
water,  he  is  light,  he  is  life ;  he  never  says  that 
he  is  fragrance  or  color  or  luxury.  He  is 
something  we  all  need,  just  as  bread  and  light 
and  water  are  the  first  necessaries  of  life.  You 
may  have  confectionery  and  golden  wine  and 
lustrous  lamps,  but  you  cannot  very  well  live 
without  bread  and  water  and  sunshine.  He 
says  that  he  is  not  mere  beauty,  about  which 
opinions  differ,  and  which  may  be  coveted  or 
condemned:  there  is  no  beauty  in  him  that 
men  should  desire  him.  But  he  is  the  divinest 
use,  the  bread  of  the  heart,  the  water  of  the 
soul,  the  light  of  life.  And  that  is  the  true 
test  of  any  divine  life.  Are  you  of  use  ?  Do 
you  feed  anybody?  Is  your  life  the  strength 
of  other  lives  ?  Are  you  necessary  or  a  super- 
fluity? Are  you  mere  light  froth  upon  the 
ocean  of  society,  a  mere  frivolous  inanity,  a 
lounger,  a  butterfly,  an  idler?  Yours  may  be 
beauty  of  face  or  the  beauty  of  genius,  but  the 
beauty  of  use  is  the  only  true  unfading  beauty. 
That  alone  goes  on  to  its  full  tale  of  honored 


56  THANKSGIVING  SEEMONS. 

years,  growing  reverend  v^itli  age,  angelic  with 
sanctity,  noble  with  service,  till  at  length  such 
a  life  comes  to  the  grave,  like  a  full  shock  of 
corn  which  is  lifted  up,  amid  grateful  acclaim 
and  divine  rejoicing. 

3.  The  harvest  is  the  parahle  of  life  it- 
self. How  little  spoils  both !  How  irrevo- 
cable the  tendencies  of  each !  A  slight  error 
spoils  the  year's  husbandry,  as  slight  errors 
often  spoil  a  whole  life.  Throw  your  seed 
into  the  earth;  it  is  then  gone  out  of  your 
power,  and  earth  will  not  give  it  back  again. 
She  cannot  give  it  back.  She  will  silently  re- 
ceive the  impact  of  your  good  or  evil,  the  gift 
of  your  wheat  or  tares,  and  she  will  reproduce 
them,  so  that  when  the  sheaf  is  bound  and  lifted 
up  in  the  light  of  the  last  day,  both  will  be  there. 
Youth  is  wedded  to  age  as  spring  is  wedded  to 
summer  and  springtime  to  harvest,  and  that 
which  a  man  sows  in  youth  he  likewise  reaps 
in  manhood.  "  We  sow  an  act,  we  reap  a  habit ; 
we  sow  a  habit,  we  reap  a  character ;  we  sow  a 
character,  we  reap  a  destiny." 

Or  look  again,  and  see  in  the  corn  an  illus- 
tration of  the  solidarity  of  life  itself  The  corn 
travels  the  wide  world  over.  It  has  no  local 
limit,  it  is  cosmopolitan.  It  is  at  home  in  the 
hands  of  the  Arab  eating  the  few  parched  ears 
in  his  rapid  rush  across  the  desert,  or  in  the 


THE  PAEABLE  OF  HAEVEST.        57 

hands  of  the  disciples  as  they  pluck  it  on  the 
Sabbath  day,  or  on  wharf  or  exchange  two 
thousand  years  later.  It  has  gone  into  the 
pyramid  in  the  hand  of  the  mummy,  and  has 
come  out  again,  after  ages  of  imprisonment  in 
the  lap  of  corruption,  to  grow  green  and  strong 
in  a  fertile  fallow.  It  enters  the  palace,  and 
is  welcome ;  and  the  cottage,  and  is  straight- 
way recognized  as  an  inalienable  friend.  It 
has  no  personal  life:  its  life  is  for  the  race. 
In  every  one  of  these  respects  is  the  parable 
of  life  revealed.  You  and  I  live  in  infinite  re- 
lations beyond  our  relation  to  the  soil  we  thrive 
in  and  the  age  we  are  said  to  live  in.  We  sow 
ourselves  as  corn  is  sowed,  and  others  reap, 
even  as  we  before  reaped  what  others  sowed. 
We  come  into  a  world  made  ready  for  us,  as 
the  corn  comes.  The  bed  is  warmed,  the  linen 
is  woven,  the  house  is  built,  the  road  is  made, 
the  seat  is  kept  for  us.  It  is  thus  that  the 
corn  comes  into  the  fallow  which  others  have 
plowed,  and  curls  itself  up  in  the  moist  earth 
and  sleeps  content.  But  does  it  rest  there  in- 
active 1  Does  it  end  there !  No ;  it  repays  the 
toil  and  trust  of  man,  and  leaps  up  presently 
and  cries,  "  I  have  had  enough  of  sleep ;  "  and 
then  the  spring  calls  it,  and  the  winds  whisper 
to  it,  and  the  lark  pipes  to  it,  and  a  million  hun- 
gry mouths  cry,  "  We  want  you  sorely ; "  and 


58  THANKSGIVING  SEEMONS. 

then  it  thrusts  its  little  green  blade  through 
the  soil,  and  cries,  "  I  am  here,  and  will  repay- 
in  golden  grain  over  a  hundredfold  all  the  care 
and  patience  you  have  lavished  on  me."  And 
so  it  is  with  us,  and  it  is  ours  to  make  the  same 
response.  We  were  expected,  and  we  came. 
We  fell  into  the  place  others  had  prepared  for 
us.  We  have  appropriated  to  ourselves  the 
discoveries  of  science,  the  wealth  of  truth,  the 
moral  riches  of  the  ages.  We  sail  on  ships 
which  others  have  built,  we  read  books  which 
others  wrote,  we  travel  on  roads  which  others 
have  made.  We  are  the  heirs  of  all  their  labor, 
the  residuary  legatees  of  all  their  love.  What 
then  ?  We  must  needs  keep  up  the  tradition 
and  fulfil  the  obligation.  We  must  go  on  toil- 
ing for  others  as  others  have  toiled  for  us ;  we 
must  even  be  ready  to  die  for  others  as  men 
once  died  for  us.  We  must  push  onward  into 
the  wastes  of  human  society,  and  sow  them 
with  noble  deeds,  that  that  which  others  left 
undone  because  their  feet  were  weary  and  life 
was  short  it  may  be  ours  to  perfect  and  accom- 
plish. He  who  does  not  do  this  is  a  traitor  to 
his  race,  a  foul  mildewed  ear  of  corn,  a  thing 
which  earth  will  not  nourish  and  the  very 
cattle  will  reject,  a  thing  to  be  trodden  under 
foot  of  men,  as  unfit  for  food  or  honor ;  and  he 
who  does  this  shall  come  to  his  grave  as  a  shock 


THE  PABABLE  OF  HARVEST.        59 

of  corn,  having  served  his  generation  by  the 
will  of  Grod. 

4.  The  harvest  is,  again,  the  parable  of 
death.  What  is  death  ?  We  know  it  only  as 
decay,  corruption,  decomposition.  We  know 
that  the  earth  is  full  of  it,  that  it  is  one  vast 
graveyard,  walled  in  alone  by  the  blue  walls 
of  heaven.  We  see  birds  and  fruits  and  flow- 
ers all  gliding  down  to  its  abyss ;  and  we  too 
at  last  totter  down  its  dark  stairs  into  nothing- 
ness. We  can  safely  hide  ourselves  from  mal- 
ice there ;  in  a  few  years  our  worst  enemy  will 
not  be  able  to  find  a  trace  of  us ;  we  shall  be 
mere  bitter  dust  mingled  with  other  dust — 

"  Rolled  round  in  earth's  diurnal  course, 
With,  rocks  and  stones  and  trees." 

But  we  know  another  thing — that  decomposi- 
tion is  recomposition.  Nothing  perishes,  be- 
cause there  is  no  waste  in  nature.  She  sweeps 
up  every  chard  and  fragment  and  uses  them 
again,  that  nothing  be  lost.  And  therein  is 
the  parable  of  the  corn :  "  Thou  fool,  it  is  not 
quickened,  except  it  die."  It  lives  to  die;  it 
dies  to  live.  It  dies  to  self:  for  if  it  could 
speak  might  it  not  protest  against  the  sickle 
that  severs  its  slender  stalk,  and  the  millstone 
that  grinds  it,  and  the  dark  earth  that  shuts  it 
down  in  so  stifling  an  embrace  ?    Might  it  not 


60  THANKSGIVING  SERMONS. 

cry  aloud,  to  drink  the  blithe  air  and  wave  in 
the  sweet  breeze  and  listen  to  the  lark's  carol 
a  little  longer  !  But  at  the  bidding  of  a  higher 
wisdom  it  goes  meekly  down  to  its  appointed 
place,  and  lo !  the  months  pass  and  it  lives 
again.  It  is  mnltiplied,  it  is  carried  afar,  it 
relives  in  a  hundred  fields,  and  men  bless  it, 
and  bind  its  golden  tassels  on  their  chariots, 
and  pile  its  yellow  stalks  on  the  altars  of  the 
church  when  they  praise  God  in  his  holy  tem- 
ple. Even  so  death  is  the  lifting  up  of  the 
shock  of  corn  into  fuller  usefulness  and  life. 
Going  to  the  grave  is  ascension,  not  descen- 
sion;  it  is  transfiguration,  not  annihilation. 
The  man  has  reached  a  full  age — it  may  be 
even  in  youth  as  we  reckon  life — for  he  is  ripe 
and  he  is  gathered,  and  his  influence  is  con- 
summated and  broadened  from  that  hour,  so 
that  it  is  "  forever  and  forever  well  with  him." 
Here,  then,  we  have  the  revelation  both  of 
the  true  purpose  and  the  true  triumph  of  life. 
The  purpose  of  life  is  use.  That  is  the  great 
lesson  of  nature  from  first  to  last.  Nothing 
walks  with  aimless  feet :  everything  which  God 
has  made  contributes  directly  to  the  great  com- 
monwealth of  his  creation.  The  flower  purges 
the  air,  the  insect  ministers  to  the  flower ;  the 
very  earthworm,  insignificant  and  repulsive  as 
it  appears,  is  the  silent  laborer  who  creates  the 


THE  PAEAELE  OF  HARVEST.        61 

soil  of  continents ;  and  thus  the  same  law  of 
use  which  lights  the  stars  sets  the  lowest  insect 
and  vegetable  its  appointed  task  in  the  perpet- 
ual ministration  of  the  universe.  Nature  is 
simply  a  vast  hive,  in  which  the  pulse  of  labor 
is  never  stilled  and  the  hum  of  toil  never 
ceases.  What  then  are  you  doing?  What 
are  you  doing  as  a  Christian  !  Is  any  one  the 
poorer  or  the  happier  for  your  presence  in  the 
world !  Do  you  minister  to  others  or  are  you 
ministered  unto  I  The  Lord  Jesus  in  the  same 
night  that  he  was  betrayed,  in  that  hour  when 
the  shadow  of  his  supreme  sacrifice  rested  on 
him,  said,  "  It  is  more  blessed  to  give  than  to 
receive."  Have  you  realized  that  in  that  hour 
Christ  announced  the  supreme  law  of  Chris- 
tianity itself  I  Have  you  realized  that  it  is 
not  what  you  think  or  wish  or  feel,  not  the 
delight  you  have  in  devout  and  holy  worship, 
or  even  the  spiritual  unction  you  may  feel  in 
a  service  like  this,  that  is  the  test  of  your  re- 
ligion, but  what  you  do — the  degree  of  use  you 
are  to  others  in  the  great  commonwealth  of 
man  ?  And  the  difference  between  the  service 
of  nature  and  of  man  lies  in  this :  that  while 
the  plant  or  insect  cannot  choose  or  shirk  its 
service,  you  can.  You  can  isolate  yourself 
from  the  noble  toils  of  love;  you  can  refuse 
to  stretch  out  a  helping  hand  to  the  poor ;  you 


62  THANKSGIVING  SERMONS. 

can  turn  aside  from  the  great  social  and  politi- 
cal questions  of  your  time ;  you  can  sleep  while 
others  labor,  and  enjoy  while  others  suffer,  and 
sit  in  the  feast  of  folly  while  others  are  broken 
on  the  pillory  of  sorrow.  "If  Christianity 
were  preached,  taught,  and  understood  in  the 
spirit  of  its  Founder,"  a  great  Frenchman  has 
said,  "  there  are  many  things  in  our  social  or- 
ganization which  would  not  last  a  single  day," 
and  it  is  a  true  and  faithful  saying.  For  Chris- 
tianity is  not  the  rapture  of  worship,  but  the 
healing  of  social  wrongs,  and  if  we  cannot 
Christianize  our  socialism  we  can  at  least  so- 
cialize our  Christianity.  That  is  the  Chris- 
tianity of  Christ — labor,  use,  service — the  re- 
deeming of  men  at  the  price  of  sacrifice,  the 
redemption  of  society  by  the  power  of  love ; 
and  he  who  fulfils  these  purposes  is  doing  the 
will  of  God,  and  shall  abide  forever. 

And  the  true  triumph  of  life  is  revealed 
here  also.  It  is  to  be  sacrificed.  To  be  used 
is  often  to  be  sacrificed,  even  as  the  corn  must 
be  plucked  and  ground  before  it  can  become 
bread.  But  the  sacrifice  is  the  consummation 
of  its  life :  it  is  its  true  triumph.  We  com- 
monly think  with  some  commiseration  of  the 
martyrs,  or  at  least  we  think  rather  of  their 
physical  deprivations  than  their  moral  great- 
ness; but  if  we  measured  things  rightly  we 


THE  PARABLE  OF  HARVEST.        63 

should  understand  that  the  man  whose  life  is 
flung  away  for  a  cause  or  a  truth  has  gained 
the  very  highest  development  of  which  life  is 
capable,  and  is  the  noblest  of  victors.  For 
when  all  this  life  is  over  for  us  all,  will  there 
be  any  true  glory  left  for  any  of  us,  unless 
it  be  the  glory  of  having  been  used  of  Grod, 
of  having  been  of  some  true  service  to  others  ? 
Do  you  remember  what  the  old  prophet  said, 
"The  land  mourns  because  the  corn  is  wasted"  ? 
And  that  is  the  great  mourning  and  lamenta- 
tion which  fills  our  land  to-day — wasted  pow- 
ers of  thought,  of  feeling,  of  affection ;  wasted 
enthusiasms  and  opportunities ;  lives  with  the 
possibilities  of  greatness  in  them  shrunk  into 
shallow,  trivial,  worthless  things ;  corn  that 
might  have  gladdened  earth  with  its  harvest 
left  to  sterility  or  rottenness,  or  distilled  to 
evil  uses  in  the  fierce  alembic  of  the  prince  of 
this  world.  Let  not  your  lives  be  the  exposi- 
tions of  such  a  parable  as  this.  Let  them 
rather  be  the  expositions  of  that  higher,  no- 
bler parable  of  the  corn  which  passes  through 
all  its  stages  of  development  to  find  a  larger 
use  with  each  change,  and  in  all  to  be  a  source 
of  gladness  because  a  source  of  ceaseless  good 
and  service  to  the  world. 


THE  CHAIN  OF  BLESSINa. 

BY  J.  MONRO  GIBSON,  D.D. 

"  I  will  hear,  saith  the  Lord,  I  will  hear  the  heavens,  and 
they  shall  hear  the  earth ;  and  the  earth  shall  hear  the  corn, 
and  the  wine,  and  the  oilj  and  they  shall  hear  Jezreel." — 
Hosea  ii.  21,  22. 

The  language  of  the  text  is  poetical  and 
highly  figurative,  but  quite  easy  of  compre- 
hension. The  word  Jezreel  means  "  seed  of 
God."  It  is  the  name  used  by  this  prophet  to 
designate  the  people  of  Grod.  We  have  here, 
then,  as  it  were,  a  picture  of  the  whole  process 
by  which  God  answers  his  people  when  they 
pray,  "Give  us  this  day  our  daily  bread." 
There  are,  first,  the  people  looking  to  the 
corn,  and  the  wine,  and  the  oil,  i.e.,  the  pro- 
ductions of  the  year,  and  pleading  for  their 
share ;  and  the  corn,  and  the  wine,  and  the  oil 
hear,  i.e.,  grant  them  what  they  need.  Again, 
the  corn,  and  the  wine,  and  the  oil  are  repre- 
sented as  looking  to  the  earth  to  produce 
them;  earth  hears  and  grants  the  request. 

64 


THE   CHAIN   OF  BLESSING.  65 

Earth  in  lier  turn  looks  up  to  heaven  for  the 
sunshine  and  the  rain  which  she  needs ;  heaven 
hears  and  grants  the  blessing.  Is  this  all? 
Does  this  terminate  the  process?  No;  we 
must  rise  a  step  farther  before  we  reach  the 
summit.  There  is  One  who  sits  above  the 
heavens,  to  whom  in  their  turn  the  heavens 
must  address  their  prayer,  a  prayer  which 
finds  its  answer,  too,  like  all  the  rest :  "  I  will 
hear,  saith  the  Lord,  I  will  hear  the  heavens, 
and  they  shall  hear  the  earth ;  and  the  earth 
shall  hear  the  corn,  and  the  wine,  and  the  oil ; 
and  they  shall  hear  Jezreel." 

The  passage  is  not  only  beautiful  but  sug- 
gestive. Its  range  is  very  wide.  It  leads  us 
all  along  the  chain  of  effect  and  cause  from 
man  through  nature  up  to  God.  Beginning  at 
the  lower  extremity  we  find  ourselves  first  in 
the  wide  and  busy  domain  of  political  econ- 
omy, with  its  two  branches  of  production  and 
distribution.  "  Earth  shall  hear  the  corn,  and 
the  wine,  and  the  oil "  (production) ;  "  they 
shall  hear  Jezreel"  (distribution).  Stepping 
upward  we  reach  the  sphere  of  natural  science, 
and  the  highest  raises  us  to  the  lofty  regions 
of  theology. 

In  endeavoring  to  open  up  the  passage  a 
little,  let  us  follow  the  chain  in  the  other  di- 
rection, beginning  with  the  highest  link,  so  to 


66  THANKSGIVING   SEKMONS. 

speak,  thoiigli  we  may  find  as  we  proceed  that 
the  theology  of  the  passage  is  not  by  any 
means  confined  to  the  highest  hnk,  but  ex- 
tends down  through  all  the  chain. 

Pursuing  this  order,  the  first  truth  we  are 
taught  is  that  however  many  links  may  seem 
to  intervene  in  nature's  chain,  if  followed  up, 
it  always  leads  to  God  at  last.  The  bounteous 
harvest  which  lately  waved  in  rich  luxuriance 
in  our  plains  and  valleys,  and  now  fills  our 
granaries,  is  the  gift  of  God.  The  sower 
sowed  the  seed;  but  whence  came  the  seed! 
Do  you  tell  me  it  came  by  some  process  of 
evolution  !  That  is  no  answer  to  the  question 
whence  it  came.  It  only  provokes  another 
question,  leading  us  to  ask  not  only  whence 
came  the  thing  evolved  ?  but  whence  came  the 
process  of  evolution  1  Who  started  it !  Who 
superintended  it? 

Then,  leaving  the  seed,  whence  came  that 
power  which  made  it  spring  and  grow  and 
multiply  a  hundredfold  ?  The  rains  of  heaven 
watered  it ;  but  "  hath  the  rain  a  father  1  and 
who  hath  begotten  the  drops  of  dew  ?  "  "  Are 
there  any  among  the  vanities  of  the  Gentiles 
that  can  cause  rain !  or  can  the  heavens  give 
showers  ?  Art  not  thou  he,  O  Lord  our  God  ? 
therefore  we  will  wait  upon  thee:  for  thou 
hast  made  all  these  things,"    We  may  carry 


THE  CHAIN   OF  BLESSING.  67 

back  the  chain  of  second  causes  as  far  as  we 
may,  we  shall  always  find  the  farthest  link 
fastened  to  the  throne  of  the  Omnipotent. 
Such  is  the  great  truth  conveyed  in  the  lovely 
imagery  of  the  text :  '^I  will  hear  the  heavens, 
and  they  shall  hear  the  earth ;  and  the  earth 
shall  hear  the  corn,  and  the  wine,  and  the  oil ; 
and  they  shall  hear  Jezreel." 

But  another  important  truth  is  suggested. 
There  is  first  the  promise  given  in  its  plain, 
prosaic,  literal  form :  "  I  will  hear,  saith  the 
Lord ;"  and  then  the  poetic  unfolding  in  detail. 
The  short  statement  covers  all  the  ground  of 
the  longer  one.  When  the  heavens  and  the 
earth  and  the  products  of  the  earth  are  repre- 
sented as  hearing  the  requests  addressed  to 
them,  it  is  of  course  only  a  poetic  figure,  of 
which  the  literal  truth  is  conveyed  in  the  gen- 
eral promise,  "  I  will  hear,  saith  the  Lord."  It 
is  God  that  hears,  not  only  at  the  extremity 
of  the  chain,  but  through  it  all,  between  each 
separate  link,  however  long  it  be.  Thus  it  is 
that  we  carry  our  theology  all  the  way.  The 
second  lesson,  then,  is,  that  not  only  is  God 
the  Great  First  Cause,  but  he  is  in  all  inter- 
mediate causes  too.  We  speak  of  "  laws,"  laws 
of  nature :  the  law  of  gravitation,  for  example, 
according  to  which  rain  falls  from  heaven  upon 
the  expectant  earth ;  the  law  of  production,  in 


68  THANKSGIVING  SERMONS. 

accordance  with  which  the  earth  brings  forth 
her  fruits ;  the  law  of  distribution,  in  accor- 
dance with  which  these  productions  reach  those 
who  are  in  want  of  them.  But  who  made  the 
laws!  And  if  the  attempt  is  made  to  evade 
the  force  of  the  question  by  saying  that  the 
laws  were  enacted  long  ago,  a  second  question 
comes :  Who  enforces  the  laws  I  There  must 
be  power  to  do  this;  where  is  it!  The  hea- 
vens have  no  power ;  earth  has  no  power ;  rain 
has  no  power.  Where  is  the  power  then! 
"  Grod  hath  spoken  once ;  twice  have  I  heard 
this;  that  power  belongeth  unto  God."  As, 
therefore,  we  follow  down  the  chain,  let  us  not 
forget  that  in  all  these  lower  links  as  well  as 
in  the  highest  we  see  the  power  of  God. 

"The  heavens  shall  hear  the  earth.'' 
What  wondrous  power  in  these  silent  plead- 
ings of  Mother  Earth ;  or  rather  what  wondrous 
power  in  Him  who  hears  them !  What  vast 
machinery  he  sets  in  motion  to  grant  the 
prayer  of  her  petition ;  yet  how  simple  in  its 
vastness !  The  sun's  rays  fall  upon  the  earth, 
and  the  light  and  heat  they  bring  are  food  to 
the  hungry  soil.  They  fall  upon  the  sea ;  and 
from  it  rises  a  watery  vapor,  which,  borne  aloft 
and  borne  along,  reaches  its  appointed  place, 
and,  distilling  into  raindrops,  supplies  drink  to 
the  thirsty  ground.    Thus  it  is  that  the  hea- 


THE  CHAIN   OF  BLESSING.  69 

vens,  or  rather  He  who  sitteth  on  the  heavens, 
hears  the  earth  when  she  cries  to  Him. 

"  The  earth  shall  hear  the  corn,  and  the 
wine,  and  the  oil."  We  might  here  again 
follow  a  line  of  thought  somewhat  like  the 
preceding.  We  might  speak,  for  example,  of 
the  strange  history  of  the  seed :  buried,  decay- 
ing, dying,  reviving,  springing,  growing,  flow- 
ering, bearing,  "  in  some  thirty,  in  some  sixty, 
and  in  some  an  hundred  fold."  This  would 
still  keep  us  in  the  domain  of  natural  science. 
But  it  is  time  now  to  look  in  another  direction. 

Has  it  never  struck  you  as  a  remarkable 
thing  that  there  should  be  such  a  regular  pro- 
portion between  what  is  produced  and  what  is 
needed  for  consumption  in  a  given  year  ?  This 
might  not  excite  our  wonder  if  there  were  some 
world-wide  regulation  setting  apart  so  many  of 
the  human  family  for  directly  productive  labor. 
But  when  we  think  that  the  whole  thing  is  left 
to  individual  choice,  is  it  not  evident  that  there 
must  be  some  power  at  work  to  preserve  the 
necessary  equilibrium  ?  There  is,  indeed,  the 
law  of  demand  and  supply  to  regulate  this. 
When  the  number  of  persons  engaged  in  any 
particular  business  is  too  small,  profits  in  that 
business  rise,  and  thus  others  are  attracted  to 
it,  until  demand  and  supply  are  equalized,  and 
profits  reach  the  ordinary  level.     But,  besides 


70  THANKSGIVING  SEEMONS. 

that  this  law  is  not  sufficient  of  itself  to  keep 
the  equilibrium  as  constant  as  it  is,  we  must 
remember  that  this  law  is  just  like  other  laws. 
It  implies  a  lawgiver.  It  implies  a  power  above 
ourselves.  The  law  of  demand  and  supply  is 
not  found,  any  more  than  is  the  law  of  gravita- 
tion, in  any  earthly  statute-book.  It  is  a  law 
of  Grod.  And  we  have  him  to  thank  that  we 
do  not  find  ourselves,  some  of  these  winters, 
in  our  fine  houses,  with  our  rich  furniture 
about  us,  libraries  well  supplied  with  books, 
walls  with  pictures,  and  mantelpieces  with  or- 
naments, and  nothing  to  eat.  There  is  such  a 
calamity  as  famine,  and  we  have  to  thank  God 
that  it  has  not  come  to  our  doors.  After  all, 
however,  any  famine  we  ever  read  of  or  wit- 
ness is  only  partial,  and  can  be  relieved  by  the 
transference  of  food  from  those  places  where 
it  is  in  abundance.  But  what  if  there  were  a 
universal  famine  some  year  ? 

Let  us  glance  now  at  the  last  link: 
"The  corn,  the  wine,  and  the  oil  shall 
hear  Jezreel."  We  have  here  a  portion  of 
the  human  family  looking  for  their  share  of 
the  year's  products  and  getting  it.  A  simple 
enough  process  surely ;  yet  not  so  simple  as  it 
seems.  Food  is  produced  where  population  is 
scanty ;  it  is  wanted  mainly  where  population 
is  dense.    Archbishop  Whately,  in  his  lectures 


THE  CHAIN  OF  BLESSING.  71 

on  political  economy,  in  showing  what  an  ex- 
traordinary thing  it  is  that  a  city  like  London 
should  be  so  regularly  and  proportionately 
supplied  even  with  the  most  perishable  articles 
of  consumption,  acutely  remarks  that  "  man's 
foresight  often  gets  the  credit  for  what  is  due 
to  Grod's  wisdom."  And  if  we  think  of  it,  we 
shall  see  that  all  foresight  of  man  would  ut- 
terly fail  for  a  work  so  stupendous  as  this. 
Suppose  that  God's  overruling  providence  in 
this  matter  were  removed  for  a  time,  and  it 
became  necessary  for  the  municipal  authori- 
ties, or  for  some  board  appointed  for  the  pur- 
pose, to  see  that  a  sufficient  number  of  men 
were  employed  to  bring  a  sufficient  supply  of 
food  into  the  metropolis,  how  should  we  fare  ? 
What  board  or  council  would  undertake  to 
cater  for  a  million  1 

It  is  difficult  to  tell  where  the  science  of  po- 
litical economy  now  stands ;  many  of  the  ac- 
cepted principles  of  twenty  years  ago  are  called 
in  question  in  these  days  of  the  sifting  of  all 
things ;  but  it  is  our  belief  that  in  the  end  it 
will  be  found  that  the  best  economy  of  man  is 
to  follow  the  economy  of  Grod.  It  is  God  who 
manages  the  great  household  of  the  human 
family.  It  is  he  who  hears  not  only  the  hea- 
vens when  they  call,  but  Jezreel  and  New  York 
when  they  caU.    It  is  God  who  makes  the  sun 


72  THANKSGIVING  SEEMONS. 

to  shine  and  the  rain  to  fall ;  it  is  he  who  makes 
the  earth  to  fructify  and  bear ;  it  is  he  who  se- 
cures a  sufficient  production  of  the  necessaries 
of  life  year  by  year ;  and  it  is  he  who  by  the 
operation  of  the  laws  which  regulate  social  life 
brings  what  we  want  to  our  very  doors.  All 
these  things  are  done  by  intermediate  agencies 
— ^by  the  powers  of  nature  or  the  energy  of 
man,  or  both ;  but  the  entire  process  is  super- 
intended and  controlled  by  the  Grod  of  nature 
and  of  providence,  who  is  indeed  "  God  over 
all,  blessed  forever  " — to  whom,  therefore,  it  is 
meet  that  we  give  thanks  and  praise  for  the 
goodness  with  which  he  has  crowned  another 
year. 

But  besides  the  very  obvious  fact  that  agri- 
cultural prosperity  is  the  foundation  of  all 
material  welfare,  and  that  to  a  very  large  ex- 
tent our  manufacturers  derive  their  raw  ma- 
terial from  the  yearly  products  of  the  soil,  it 
is  important  to  remember  that  all  we  have 
said  is  just  as  applicable  to  manufactures  as  to 
agriculture.  Many  have  the  idea  that  the 
farmer  is  more  deiDcndent  on  the  divine  power 
than  the  artisan  or  the  manufacturer.  It  is  a 
great  mistake.  The  chain  along  which  we  de- 
rive our  manufactured  goods  from  the  Giver 
of  all  good  may  be  longer  than  the  other ;  but 
it  is  just  as  true,  not  only  that  God  is  at  the 


THE  CHAIN  OF  BLESSING.  73 

upper  end  of  it,  but  in  each  intermediate  link. 
This  is  an  obvious  enough  thought,  and  yet  it 
is  overlooked  by  many  who  suppose  that  in 
the  products  of  the  field  we  see  the  results  of 
the  divine  power,  whereas  in  the  products  of 
the  loom  we  see  what  man  can  do.  Such  over- 
look the  fact  that  no  machine  can  produce 
power ;  it  can  only  take  some  natural  agent 
which  is  ready  furnished  to  the  mechanic,  as 
the  sunshine  and  the  rain  are  to  the  farmer, 
and  bring  it  to  bear  at  the  point  and  in  the 
way  necessary  to  secure  the  end.  In  this  con- 
nection it  is  interesting  to  know,  according  to 
the  recent  teaching  of  science,  that  all  the  force 
which  is  used  in  all  our  factories  is  ultimately 
traceable  to  the  sun.  Are  they  driven  by 
water-power !  It  is  the  sun  which  has  raised 
the  water  from  the  level  of  the  ocean  and  given 
it  a  head.  Are  they  driven  by  steam-power  ? 
It  was  the  sun  which  millions  of  years  ago 
poured  its  rays  on  the  luxurious  vegetation  of 
the  Carboniferous  era,  and  filled  it  full  of  a 
latent  force  which,  after  the  leaves  and  stems 
and  roots  containing  it  had  been  pressed  and 
hardened  and  blackened  underground,  should 
be  available  to  those  who  in  future  ages  should 
dig  it  up  as  coal,  and  use  it  to  heat  their  houses 
and  drive  their  engines.  It  is  fully  allowed 
now  by  scientific  men  that  force  is  as  inde- 


74  THANKSGIVING  SERMONS. 

structible  as  matter,  that  man  can  neither  in- 
crease nor  diminish  it;  and  after  all  is  not  this 
just  a  nineteenth-century  way  of  putting  the 
same  old  truth  which  God  taught  the  psalmist 
three  thousand  years  ago :  "  Grod  hath  spoken 
once;  twice  have  I  heard  this;  that  power 
belongeth  unto  Grod"?  In  our  manufactures 
as  in  agriculture,  the  raw  material  on  the  one 
hand  and  the  power  to  work  it  up  on  the  other, 
and  all  these  qualities  of  the  different  metals 
and  other  substances  which  are  made  use  of  in 
the  process — all  these  are  of  God,  and  of  him 
only. 

There  has  been  considerable  stagnation  in 
many  branches  of  our  manufacturing  and  com- 
mercial industries.  But  have  we  really  wanted 
for  anything  ?  Have  our  comforts  been  much 
abridged?  Have  we  not  all,  or  almost  all,  of 
us  nearly  everything  that  we  could  reasonably 
desire?  Surely,  then,  we  have  no  reason  to 
complain  of  hard  times,  or  to  refrain  from  giv- 
ing unto  God  our  heartiest  thanks  and  praise 
on  this  Thanksgiving  Day.  There  has  been, 
indeed,  and  will  be,  no  doubt,  this  winter,  much 
suffering  among  the  poor.  Those  who  suffer, 
however,  belong  to  one  or  other  of  two  classes : 
first,  that  large  class  whose  privations  are  di- 
rectly traceable  to  improvidence  or  intemper- 
ance, or  both;  and  second,  a  much  smaller 


THE  CHAIN   OF  BLESSING.  75 

class  of  deserving  poor,  for  whom  the  Father 
of  all  cares  as  tenderly  as  he  does  for  the  rich, 
and  even  more  tenderly,  and  who  will  one  day 
find  that  their  earthly  poverty  has  been  a  bless- 
ing in  disguise,  first  to  themselves,  and  then 
to  those  who  had  the  privilege  of  helping  them 
in  their  time  of  need.  We  must  indeed  pro- 
vide for  the  undeserving  as  well  as  for  the  de- 
serving poor,  for  the  greatest  sin  should  never 
put  a  man  or  a  woman  beyond  the  reach  of 
mercy  and  charity;  but  we  must  of  course 
draw  a  very  sharp  line  of  distinction,  using 
caution,  strictness,  even  sternness  when  neces- 
sary, with  the  former,  but  dealing  in  all  kind- 
ness and  liberality  with  the  latter.  Our  char- 
itable societies  are  doing  noble  work,  for  the 
most  part  wisely  and  well.  Still  they  cannot 
do  the  whole.  We  ought  all  to  do  our  share, 
not  certainly  by  giving  thoughtlessly  to  im- 
portunate beggars,  but  by  seeking  out  for  our- 
selves some  needy  ones  whom  we  can  help. 
Let  us  seek  out  as  the  objects  of  our  special 
charity  those  who  are  so  sensitive  and  so  in- 
dependent that  they  will  suffer  want  rather 
than  let  their  wants  be  known.  This  will  be 
far  better  evidence  of  our  gratitude  than  any 
amount  of  devotion  on  a  Thanksgiving  Day. 

We  had  intended  to  have  spoken  of  many 
other  things ;  but  it  is  vain  to  try  to  cover  the 


76  THANKSGIVING  SEEMONS. 

ground  of  God's  mercies — '^  If  we  sliould  count 
them,  tliey  are  m.ore  in  number  than  the  sand." 
Let  us  all  try  to  think  of  as  many  as  we  can : 
our  personal  mercies,  our  family  mercies,  our 
social  mercies,  our  national  mercies ;  the  prev- 
alence of  peace,  the  absence  of  pestilence,  the 
stability  of  our  institutions,  the  restraint  of 
evil,  the  furtherance  of  good — these  and  such 
as  these  will  afford  food  for  meditation  and 
fuel  for  the  fires  of  gratitude  and  love  which 
surely  ought  to  burn  in  every  heart. 


"THE    DEW    UNTO    ISRAEL.'^ 

BY  THE  REV.  J.  ROBINSON  GREGORY. 
"  I  will  be  as  the  dew  unto  Israel." — Hosea  xiv.  5. 

The  prophecies  of  Hosea  cover  so  long  a 
period — some  sixty  years — that  it  is  clear  that 
we  possess  only  specimens  of  the  addresses  he 
was  accustomed  to  deliver.  The  last  chapter 
forms  a  sort  of  summary  of  his  appeals  and 
exhortations. 

The  words,  "  I  will  be  as  the  dew  unto  Israel," 
follow  immediately  the  healing  of  the  backslid- 
ing and  the  proclamation  of  God's  free  love. 
In  them  and  in  the  next  four  verses  the  over- 
flowing love  of  God,  his  quenchless  generosity, 
find  vent.  The  style  is  mainly  metaphorical, 
the  comparisons  being  drawn  from  Nature  as 
she  appears  in  Palestine.  It  is  thus  nearly 
impossible  for  us  who  live  on  another  conti- 
nent, under  very  different  physical  conditions, 
to  appreciate  their  full  force.  The  general 
idea,  however,  we  can  catch. 

77 


78  THANKSGIVING  SERMONS. 

"I  will   be   as   the  clew  unto   Israel." 

With  us  the  dew  is  little  noticed.  We  look  to 
the  clouds  to  supply  all  that  grows  upon  the 
earth  with  sufficient  moisture.  Our  poets  sing 
of  it — how  it  glistens  in  the  sunlight;  how, 
gemlike,  it  ornaments  every  flower,  every 
grass-blade,  in  the  early  morning.  Our  men 
of  science  ponder  it,  and  are  only  partially 
satisfied  as  to  its  cause.  But  we  do  not  rate 
highly  its  substantial  benefit.  In  Judea  great 
heat  and  little  rain  make  the  dew  as  important 
as  it  is  beautiful.  But  for  it  the  fields  of  Israel 
would  speedily  become  a  mass  of  dry,  withered 
herbage. 

Three  circumstances  render  the  dew  a  pecu- 
liarly appropriate  symbol  of  God's  sustaining 
care  for  his  people,  his  constant  grace.  First, 
the  dew  falls  regularly,  in  summer  as  in  winter, 
in  autumn  as  in  spring.  Showers  descend  at 
indefinite  intervals — the  dew  is  a  continual 
daily  blessing.  Second,  it  comes  quietly,  not 
like  the  rushing  thunder-storm  nor  in  the 
broad  sunshine,  but  in  the  night,  when  no  one 
perceives  its  advent.  Thirdly,  there  is  mys- 
tery connected  with  it — at  any  rate,  in  popular 
thought.  Thus  Israel  is  promised  daily  bene- 
diction, refreshment  shed  forth  without  in- 
termission and  without  disturbance.  Their 
peaceful  happiness  shaU  be  unalloyed  by  fe- 


"the  dew  unto  iseael."  79 

verish  anxiety  for  fresh  supplies.  While  they 
rest  Grod  shall  work  for  them.  He  shall  be  to 
them  a  ceaseless,  soft,  still  influence  for  good. 
Thus,  too,  does  he  communicate  grace  to  his 
believing  children.  He  is  as  the  dew  unto  his 
spiritual  Israel.  How  gently,  how  continu- 
ously, he  blesses  us !  Often  we  feel  sweet 
peace  when  we  are  half  unconscious  of  its 
source.  Our  soul's  life  would  languish,  would 
fail  suddenly,  were  it  not  for  the  secret  sup- 
port vouchsafed  to  us  by  God. 

Thus  watered  from  on  high,  Israel 
"shall  grow  (or  blossom)  as  the  lily." 
We  may  not  be  able  to  decide  to  what  partic- 
ular species  of  "  lily "  the  prophet  refers,  but 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  he  has  in  his 
thought  the  beauty  of  the  flower,  the  rapidity 
of  its  growth,  and  its  amazing  productiveness. 
With  the  lily  is  associated  also  the  idea  of 
purity.  The  Christian  does  not  grow  accord- 
ing to  one  rigid  rule,  is  not  fashioned  after 
one  invariable  pattern.  There  are  freedom 
and  spontaneity  about  his  development.  The 
results  of  the  divine  blessing  appear  quickly. 
The  tall  lily,  elegant  in  shape,  gorgeous  in 
coloring,  prolific  in  growth,  sending  forth 
leaves  and  flowers  freely,  forms  a  choice  em- 
blem of  Christian  beauty  and  fertility. 

But  the  lily  is  extremely  fragile,  and  it  is 


80  THANKSGIVING  SERMONS. 

short-lived.  It  can  last  but  a  single  season ;  it 
may  endure  for  a  much  shorter  period.  A 
child's  hand  may  pinch  a  flower  and  then  throw 
it  away  to  wither.  The  hoof  of  passing  cattle 
may  trample  it  into  the  mire.  Another  com- 
parison must  exhibit  Israel's  strength  and 
stability.  He  shall  ^'cast  forth  his  roots  as 
Lebanon,"  i.e.,  as  the  cedar  of  Lebanon.  What 
type  drawn  from  the  vegetable  world  can  bet- 
ter set  forth  firmness  than  the  cedar  of  Leba- 
non !  It  retains  its  vigor  for  centuries.  Pos- 
sibly there  are  cedars  still  living  which  heard 
the  ax  of  Solomon's  workmen  as  they  cut  down 
trees  for  the  cedar- work  of  the  temple.  Win- 
ter storms  have  served  only  to  tighten  the 
hold  of  the  roots,  winter  snows  to  give  a  more 
graceful  curve  to  the  branches.  The  roots 
clasp  themselves  around  the  rock,  and  there- 
fore the  tree  stands  unshaken.  So  the  Chris- 
tian is  strong  in  the  Lord  and  in  the  power  of 
his  might.  Eested  in  the  Eock  of  Ages,  he 
bids  defiance  to  the  world,  the  flesh,  and  the 
devil.  Tribulation  and  temptation  increase 
his  strength  and  hasten  his  growth. 

"  His  branches  shall  spread."  The  flour- 
ishing tree  sends  out  new  suckers  continually, 
which  take  root  and  themselves  grow  into 
trees,  to  repeat  the  process  again  and  again. 
Israel  multiplies  as  well  as  grows.    The  one 


"the  dew  unto  ISRAEL."  81 

tree  becomes  many  trees.  The  application 
attaches  rather  to  the  church  than  to  the  indi- 
vidual Christian,  though  the  figure  was  used 
generally  of  strength  and  progress.  Still, 
through  his  efforts  to  lead  others  to  Christ, 
the  Christian  may  be  said  to  multiply  himseK. 

"  His  beauty  shall  be  as  the  olive-tree." 
To  an  Oriental  eye  the  olive-tree  is  actually 
beautiful.  But  we  fairly  may  employ  the  olive 
as  a  type  of  usefulness.  The  Christian  pos- 
sesses the  beauty  of  holiness,  but  it  is  not  a 
mere  personal  adornment  and  delight.  It  leads 
to  earnest  service  on  behalf  of  the  bodies  and 
souls  of  men.  The  very  character  of  the  true 
Christian  renders  him  useful.  Whether  un- 
obtrusively in  the  home  or  in  more  public 
philanthropy,  he  is  ever  ready  to  render  to  all 
men  kindly  service  and  help. 

"  And  his  smell  as  Liehanon."  Travelers 
tell  us  that  the  fragrance  of  Lebanon  extends 
to  a  considerable  distance  from  its  mountains 
and  valleys,  owing  partly  to  its  cedars,  and 
partly  to  various  sweet-smelling  plants  which 
are  produced  profusely.  The  "  smell "  results 
from  the  emission  of  invisible  particles  which 
impinge  upon  the  olfactory  nerves.  The  per- 
fume is  exhaled  continuously  and  without 
effort.  The  metaphor  may  illustrate  the  in- 
fluence exerted  by  the  Christian  ceaselessly 


82  THANKSGIVING   SERMONS. 

and  often  unconsciously.  How  often  have 
men  been  compelled  to  acknowledge  the  truth 
and  power  of  Christianity,  have  even  been 
brought  to  experience  and  embrace  them, 
through  the  quiet  but  potent  influence  of  a 
faithful  Christian  life ! 

"They  that  dwell  under  his  shadow 
shall  return."  The  figure  represents  Israel 
as  a  wide-spreading,  umbrageous  tree.  It  is 
not  quite  easy,  however,  to  fix  the  precise 
meaning  of  the  prophet's  words.  If  we  trans- 
late, or  rather  paraphrase,  "  They  shall  return 
and  dwell  under  his  shadow,"  we  have  a  meta- 
phor expressing  the  protection  of  the  church 
over  those  who  do  not  actually  belong  to  her. 
Many  who  are  not  real  Christians  are  glad  to 
live  in  Christian  countries,  and  to  be  governed 
by  Christian  laws.  Or  we  may  render,  "  They 
that  dwell  under  his  shadow  shall  grow  wise," 
and  the  words  will  allude  to  the  teaching  and 
instructing  power  of  the  church  and  of  the 
private  Christian. 

"  They  shall  revive  as  the  corn."  Even 
prosperous  Israel  may  have  his  seasons  of  de- 
pression and  apparent  feebleness.  The  green 
stalk  has  forced  itself  through  the  ground,  and 
encounters  the  fierce  heat  of  the  Eastern  sun. 
Soon  it  lies  seemingly  lifeless  upon  the  parched 
earth,  stricken  by  the  sun.    But  the  night  mists 


"the  dew  unto  iskael."  83 

and  the  morning  dew  enwrap  it,  so  that  it 
drinks  in  the  blessed  moisture,  and  once  more 
it  erects  its  head  and  recovers  its  greenness. 
Often  is  the  struggling  blade  compelled  to  lie 
prostrate,  but  as  often  it  revives,  until  it  can 
endure  the  hot  sunshine,  and  in  its  season 
brings  forth  thirty,  sixty,  an  hundred  fold. 
Sometimes  a  kind  of  wireworm  will  gnaw  the 
root,  and  worse  damage  ensues  than  is  wrought 
by  the  heat.  But  even  then  the  dew  enables 
the  corn  to  triumph  over  its  foe,  to  reach  per- 
fection in  spite  of  it.  Thus  tribulation  or  per- 
secution, or  the  assaults  of  insidious  sin,  may 
render  the  Christian  feeble,  may  cause  him  to 
fail.  But  the  dew  of  divine  grace  descends 
upon  him.  He  who  restoreth  the  soul  vouch- 
safes his  Holy  Spirit  to  him,  and  again  he  rises 
strong  in  humility  and  trust.  Few  truths  are 
more  consolatory  to  the  earnest  follower  of 
Christ,  cognizant  of  his  own  weakness  and  of 
his  danger  through  the  onsets  and  devices  of 
the  evil  one,  than  that  he  can  be  lifted  up  from 
his  fall,  supported  under  care  and  trouble 
and  sorrow,  cleansed  from  and  strengthened 
against  his  sin. 

"  And  grow  (or  blossom)  as  the  vine." 
Perhaps  Hosea's  thought  was  concerned  main- 
ly with  the  fertility  of  the  vine  and  the  beauty 
and  richness  of  its  clusters.     We  may,  how- 


84  THANKSGIVING   SEKMONS. 

ever,  legitimately  ascribe  another  signification 
to  the  figure.  All  the  preceding  metaphors 
imply  power  to  stand  alone,  without  extrane- 
ous support.  The  stately  cedar,  the  delicate 
lily,  the  thin  corn-stalk,  rear  themselves  erect. 
But  the  vine  is  not  intended  to  stand  upright 
by  its  own  power.  It  must  lean  on  some- 
thing else.  It  must  be  fastened  to  the  wall, 
or  trained  over  poles  or  trellis-work.  And  the 
Christian  must  ever  rely  on  a  strength  be- 
yond his  own.  He  leans  upon  the  Beloved. 
Some  species  of  dwarf  vines  can  fiourish  with- 
out props.  Every  attempt  of  the  believer  to 
stand  alone,  every  moment's  forgetfulness  of 
his  dependence,  tends  to  dwarf  his  spiritual 
stature  and  to  diminish  his  fruitfulness.  Let 
us  remember  gladly,  gratefully,  constantly, 
that  we  may  and  must  rest  on  as  well  as  in 
God. 

"  The  scent  thereof  shall  be  as  the  wine 
of  Liehanon."  For  "  scent "  the  margin  gives 
"  memorial,"  an  alternative  rendering  that  sug- 
gests the  interpretation.  Travelers  speak  en- 
thusiastically of  its  bouquet,  of  the  length  of 
time  during  which  the  pleasant  taste  remains 
on  the  palate  after  the  other  effects  have  passed 
away.  This  is  its  "  scent,"  which  abides  when 
the  wine  itself  is  no  more. 

Can  a  more  appropriate  illustration  be  con- 


"the  dew  unto  ISRAEL."  85 

ceived  of  the  abiding  influence  of  a  Christian's 
life,  example,  work,  after  he  has  left  this 
world  I  His  memory  is  an  inspiration.  His 
good  deeds  live  after  him.  The  church  pos- 
sesses enormous  treasure  in  the  biographies 
of  the  saints.  But  no  good  man's  influence 
dies  with  himself :  it  extends  at  least  to  the 
third  or  fourth  generation.  Their  memorial  is 
as  the  wine  of  Lebanon. 

Thus  Israel,  the  Christian  church,  the  indi- 
vidual believer,  is  blessed  with  the  freedom 
and  beauty  of  the  lily;  the  strength,  expan- 
sion, and  self-propagation  of  the  cedar;  the 
usefulness  of  the  olive ;  the  recuperative  power 
of  the  corn ;  the  fertility  and  tender  clinging- 
ness  of  the  vine ;  the  abiding  memory  of  the 
wine  of  Lebanon.  In  him  the  most  opposite 
and  mutually  exclusive  properties  inhere  and 
harmonize.  Nature  is  strained  to  do  him 
homage  and  to  express  his  excellences. 

The  ninth  verse  presents  some  difiiculties  of 
interpretation,  even  for  purely  practical  pur- 
poses. We  may  accept  the  question,  "  What 
have  I  to  do  with  idols'?"  as  the  speech  of 
Ephraim,  and  as  expressing  the  utmost  abhor- 
rence of  idolatry,  and  his  wonder  that  he  could 
ever  have  preferred  the  cult  of  the  idol  to  the 
service  of  Jehovah.  "  I  have  heard  him,  and 
will  regard  him,"  is  certainly  Jehovah's  reply. 


86  THANKSGIVING   SEKMONS. 

(Compare  Jer.  viii.  6 ;  Ps.  xxxii.  8,  R.  V.)  But 
who  is  it  that  says,  "  I  am  like  a  green  fir- 
tree  "  1  It  is  quite  possible  to  understand  it  of 
Ephraim.  In  that  case  Ephraim  declares  his 
astonishment  that  he,  who  had  been  so  fickle 
and  faithless,  should  be  preserved  continually 
in  vigorous  health.  Or  we  may  ascribe  the 
words  to  Jehovah,  who,  after  comparing  his 
people  to  trees  and  plants,  condescends  to  em- 
ploy similar  imagery  concerning  himself.  In- 
dubitably the  words,  "  From  me  is  thy  fruit 
found,"  proceed  from  God.  If  the  previous 
clause  belongs  to  Ephraim,  the  words  remind 
him  that  he  owes  his  rejuvenescence  and  pro- 
ductiveness solely  to  the  Lord.  The  objection 
that  the  fir-tree  does  not  bear  any  fruit  is  by 
no  means  fatal.  The  inference  would  be  that 
no  symbol  taken  from  the  vegetable  world 
could  exhibit  the  divine  perfection;  that  the 
contradiction  was  designed  to  show  how  great- 
ly the  Almighty  transcends  any  comparison 
that  may  be  used  regarding  him. 

"  From  me  is  thy  fruit  found."  One  is  re- 
minded of  our  Lord's  parable  of  the  vine  and 
its  branches  (John  xv.  4,  5).  Prosper  and 
flourish  as  the  Christian  may,  let  him  ever 
keep  in  mind  that  his  goodness,  beauty,  and 
happiness  are  all  derived  from  (rod,  and  that 
by  continual  communication.     "  All  my  foun- 


UNTO   ISRAEL."  87 

tains  are  in  thee."  God  is  the  continuous 
source  of  all  our  perfection  and  joy.  From 
him  come  mercies  "  new  every  morning."  Here 
is  the  remedy  for  the  weariness  and  monotony 
of  life — the  freshness  of  each  successive  gift  of 
GocL 


THE  PLOWMAN  TAUGHT  OF  GOD. 

BY   THE   REV.  FRANCIS   STANDFAST. 

"  For  his  God  doth  instruct  him  to  discretion,  and  doth 
teach  him." — Isa.  xxviii.  26. 

"For  his  God  doth  instruct  him  aright,  and  doth  teach 
him." — Revised  Version. 

Nature  has  many  striking  contrasts — the 
oasis,  with  its  feathery  palm  and  sweet  water 
in  the  desert;  the  vineyard,  with  its  purple 
clusters  and  luxuriant  verdure  untouched,  sur- 
rounded by  the  fiery  scoria  and  lava  which  the 
mighty  volcano  has  vomited ;  the  ships  safely 
anchored  within  the  breakwater,  while  a  trium- 
phant sea  hurls  itself  on  the  rocks,  or  engulfs 
the  ships  beyond.  Even  so  this  chapter  has 
for  us  a  glad  surprise.  The  heaviest  and  dark- 
est judgments  have  been  denounced  against 
the  Jews ;  but  in  the  midst  of  this  we  catch 
gentler  tones :  "  Give  ear,  and  hear  my  voice ; 
hearken,  and  hear  my  speech."  This  solemn 
invocation  is  given  that  we  may  listen  to  a 
pleasing  parable  or  allegory.    Under  the  fig- 

88 


THE  PLOWMAN  TAUGHT   OF   GOD.  89 

ure  of  the  husbandman  dealing  with  the  soil, 
we  have  portrayed  God's  method  of  dealing 
with  his  people. 

Some  people  prize  things  because  they  are 
ancient,  and  would  even  justify  their  own  sins 
because  of  the  original  sin  of  Adam.  Agricul- 
ture is  the  most  ancient  of  all  pursuits,  for 
Adam  was  a  gardener,  Cain  a  farmer,  Abel  a 
herdsman;  and  Cain  did  not  go  to  live  in  a 
city  or  attempt  to  build  one  until  after  he  had 
committed  his  great  crime.  It  is  not  only  the 
most  ancient,  but  also  the  most  necessary,  and 
all  other  pursuits  could  be  more  readily  spared 
than  this.  The  most  careless  observer  who 
walks  through  an  agricultural  show  must  be 
forcibly  struck  with  the  great  importance  of 
agriculture.  How  foolish  and  sinful  it  is  for 
those  who  possess  wealth  acquired  by  the  toil 
of  others,  and  who  are  designated  independent, 
to  despise  or  oppress  those  on  whose  humble 
toil  they  are  indeed  most  dependent !  What 
would  be  the  value  of  the  broad  acres  if  left 
without  culture?  It  is  the  toil  of  the  peas- 
ant which  makes  them  productive,  and  which 
wrings  from  the  soil  those  ample  revenues 
that  sustain  the  proprietor  in  luxurious  ease. 
Of  what  benefit  would  be  those  pieces  of  sil- 
ver, gold,  or  paper  which  we  call  cash,  without 
indefatigable  industry  producing  the  necessa- 


90  THANKSGIVING   SERMONS. 

ries  and  comfort  which  money  brings  1  Would 
coin  satisfy  the  cravings  of  hunger !  No  more 
than  molten  gold  could  assuage  thirst.  The 
painter  must  lay  down  his  brush  and  palette, 
the  poet  his  pen,  the  philosopher  suspend  his 
experiments,  and  the  voice  of  the  orator  be 
dumb,  the  jeweled  crown  become  a  worthless 
bauble,  the  most  stately  palace  become  a  re- 
gion of  desolation,  but  for  the  labor  of  the  ag- 
riculturist and  fisherman. 

Labor  is  the  foundation  on  which  the  mighty 
fabric  of  human  society  rests,  and  none  but 
the  vain,  proud,  and  foolish  will  overlook  their 
obligation  to  the  toilers.  Acknowledged  reci- 
procity of  advantage  should  bind  all  classes  to- 
gether in  one  strong,  common  bond  of  mutual 
support ;  for  if  the  man  of  leisure  is  dependent 
on  those  sons  of  toil  for  the  very  necessity  of 
existence,  it  is  equally  certain  that  to  such  the 
toilers  are  indebted  for  the  social  order  which 
preserves  liberty  and  life,  for  the  books  which 
inspire  to  intellectual  elevation,  and  for  the 
sciences  which  indefinitely  expand  the  com- 
pass of  our  being.  If  the  arch  be  indebted  to 
the  foundation-stone  for  its  very  existence,  it 
could  not  retain  its  graceful  sweep  or  strength 
one  moment  without  its  keystone. 

Let  us  contemplate  the  method  of  the  divine 
teaching. 


THE  PLOWMAN   TAUGHT  OF  GOD.  91 

1.  The  plowman  teaches  us  a  lesson  of 
preparation.  "  Doth  the  plowman  plow  all 
day  to  sow  1  doth  he  open  and  break  the  clods 
of  his  ground!"  Yes.  Here  is  painstaking, 
honorable  toil.  If  an  end  be  good,  then  it  is 
wise  and  honorable  to  strive  to  secure  it.  The 
plowman  aims  at  the  harvest :  the  plowing  is 
a  necessary  preparation.  God  prepared  much 
for  man  before  he  introduced  him  into  Eden. 
God  would  not  bring  his  favorite  creature  man 
into  a  dreary,  cheerless  world,  but  into  one 
glowing  with  beauty,  impressive  in  magnifi- 
cence, overflowing  with  goodness.  What  a 
home  was  Paradise !  nothing  spared,  nothing 
overlooked,  nothing  grudged.  No  cradle  for 
an  emperor's  child  was  ever  prepared  with  such 
magnificence  as  the  world  has  been  for  man. 
Earth,  God's  cradle  for  the  human  race,  is  in- 
deed curiously  carved  and  decorated,  flower- 
strewn  and  gossamer-curtained,  and  man  is 
only  working  together  with  God  when  he 
strives  to  do  his  part  in  making  this  earth 
yield  its  wealth  and  increase  in  harmony  with 
the  divine  appointment.  For  this  the  plow- 
man is  ready  to  plow  all  day,  and  to  open  and 
break  the  clods. 

2.  A  lesson  of  activity.  The  plowman  has 
passed  the  time  of  deliberation ;  he  has  decided, 
and  decision  has  led  to  action.    The  irresolute 


92  THANKSGIVING  SEKMONS. 

spend  much  time  in  deliberation — it  may  be 
a  lifetime — and  do  nothing.  There  is  much 
truth  in  Bacon's  complaint,  that  "some  men 
object  too  much,  consult  too  long,  adventure 
too  little,  repent  too  soon,  and  seldom  drive 
business  home."  This  aphorism  applies,  alas ! 
to  too  many  alike  in  the  world  and  the  church. 
But  plowmen  are  by  sheer  necessity  freed  from 
it ;  they  drive  business  home  in  a  most  prac- 
tical manner;  yet  plowing  is  preparation — 
there  is  no  present  recompense.  The  long 
chilly  winter,  the  shy  retiring  spring,  the  om- 
nipotent summer,  must  spend  their  force  with- 
out abatement  before  the  harvest  is  won.  All 
great  service  and  usefulness  must  be  prepared 
for ;  those  are  wisest  who  spend  more  time  in 
preparing  for  high  office  than  in  clamoring  for 
it.  A  few  may  never  reach  their  right  places. 
It  is  more  than  possible  that  statues  of  a  Phid- 
ias or  Praxiteles  are  buried  in  the  tumuli  of 
Athens ;  but  men  ought  to  be  more  than  stat- 
ues in  the  temple  of  Providence,  and  sooner  or 
later  find  their  proper  niches,  contributing  to 
the  grace,  adornment,  and  finish  of  the  world. 
If  you  acquire  all  the  fitness  for  high  place, 
and  do  not  reach  it,  the  world  and  society  at 
large  will  be  the  losers ;  but  you,  it  may  be, 
will  only  have  lost  much  worry  and  care.  But 
if  you  get  it  without  fitness,  you,  the  one  whose 


THE  PLOWMAN  TAUGHT   OF   GOD.  93 

place  you  take,  and  the  world,  with  all  coming 
generations,  may  be  the  losers.  "High  sta- 
tions," says  D'Alembert,  "  are  like  the  top  of 
a  pyramid,  accessible  only  to  an  eagle  or  to  a 
creeping  thing."  I  will  not  assume  that  you 
are  creeping  things — some,  alas !  have  not  per- 
severance enough  to  achieve  that  high  rank — 
I  will  assume  that  you  are  eaglets.  Be  wary, 
then,  and  do  not  try  to  soar  to  the  loftiest 
mountain  crags,  where  the  ice-king  reigns,  and 
the  thunder  stores  its  magazine  and  forges 
its  bolts,  before  you  have  tried  your  wings 
in  lower  regions.  One  of  the  strongest  proofs 
of  a  sound  religion  is  to  be  thankful  for  any 
heights  which  it  is  possible  to  scale,  and  to  be 
as  thankful  for  the  continuous  valley  in  which 
human  duty  is  best  discharged.  Present  hap- 
piness, at  least,  depends  more  upon  plowing  in 
the  valley  than  dreaming  on  the  top  of  the 
mountain.  Preparation  should  be  earnest, 
constant,  exhaustive,  painstaking,  in  propor- 
tion to  the  good  sought  to  be  attained.  There 
is  one  occupation  which  is  ever  green,  its  leaf 
never  fades,  of  which  we  need  never  be  weary, 
which  is  good  for  all  seasons,  beautiful  at  all 
times,  a  source  of  unwearying  delight,  which 
comes  nearest  to  the  divine,  and  that  is — do- 
ing good.  This  is  almost  the  only  pleasure 
which  increases  as  life  goes  on;  almost  the 


94  THANKSGIVING  SEKMONS. 

only  investment  which  is  absolutely  safe  at  all 
times.  While  we  may  absolve  young  people 
to  a  large  extent  from  great  philanthropic  ac- 
tivity, yet  we  do  not  absolve  them  from  pre- 
paring themselves  for  it  as  earnestly  as  plow- 
man prepares  the  soil,  or  the  student  prepares 
himself  for  his  examination  for  his  degree. 
Man  is  the  great  spendthrift  of  the  moral  uni- 
verse; he  knows  more  about  the  saving  of 
money  than  the  conservation  of  energy.  As- 
tronomers tell  us  of  worlds  fusing  and  passing 
away  in  vapor.  Man  creates  many  such.  It 
may  be  that  the  majority  outside  the  Christian 
church  "  spend  money  for  that  which  is  not 
bread,  and  labor  for  that  which  satisfieth  not." 
Ulysses  could  not  discover  a  happier  method 
of  making  his  foes  believe  in  his  insanity 
than  by  plowing  up  the  sand  by  the  sea-shore. 
How  much  quick-witted  invention  degenerates 
to  the  same  folly !  Often  within  the  church, 
where  heavenly  wisdom  ought  to  shine,  mat- 
ters are  not  much  improved.  How  many  are 
at  ease  in  Zion !  How  many  shirk  the  plow- 
ing altogether !  How  many  let  noxious  weeds 
grow  apace !  How  many  miss  the  time  of 
open-handed  sowing,  and  yet  expect  to  wake 
up  when  the  song  of  harvest-home  fills  the  air, 
and  to  gather  their  own  golden  sheaves !  The 
world  has  never  witnessed  miracles  of  this 
kind. 


THE  PLOWMAN  TAUGHT  OF  GOD.  95 

There  is  still  a  sense  in  which  the  children 
of  the  world  are  wiser  than  the  children  of  light. 
Many  of  these  count  years  not  wasted  to  ac- 
quire proficiency  in  mere  vanities  and  triviali- 
ties over  which  angels  well  may  weep.  Dugald 
Stewart  tells  of  one  who  spent  fifteen  years  of 
his  life  in  acquiring  mathematical  precision  in 
balancing  a  pole  on  his  chin.  A  Chinese  jug- 
gler has  to  practise  many  hours  a  day  from 
early  infancy  in  order  to  acquire  that  supple- 
ness of  joint,  firmness  of  muscle,  quickness 
and  precision  of  movement,  which  shall  en- 
able him  to  revolve  four  balls  simultaneously 
through  their  mimic  orbits.  "  You  charge  me 
fifty  sequins,"  said  a  Venetian  nobleman  to  a 
sculptor,  "  for  a  bust  that  cost  you  only  ten 
days  of  labor."  "  You  forget,"  replied  the  ar- 
tist, "  that  I  have  been  thirty  years  learning  to 
make  that  bust  in  ten  days."  The  plowman, 
sculptor,  painter,  even  the  juggler  and  mounte- 
bank, reprove  countless  millions  for  the  little 
preparation  they  make  to  labor  for  that  meat 
which  endureth  unto  everlasting  life. 

3.  A  lesson  of  prudence.  "  Grod  giveth 
him  discretion."  All  toil  that  is  honest  is 
honorable,  but  that  is  the  most  honorable 
which  employs  the  greatest  variety  of  our 
powers.  The  measure  of  physical  power  de- 
fines not  the  degree  of  honor ;  if  so,  any  one  of 


96  THANKSGIVING  SEKMONS. 

the  insensate,  unyielding,  potent  laws  of  na- 
ture would  surpass  man's  supremest  work. 
The  lowliest  of  the  laborers  in  the  Carrara 
quarries  may  put  forth  more  strength  in  ex- 
cavating the  block  of  marble  than  Michael 
Angelo  in  sculpturing  his  Moses,  most  ma- 
jestic and  impressive  of  all  works  of  art.  The 
mere  physical  strength  which  cannot  rival 
brute  force,  the  mechanical  skill  which  the  in- 
stinctive precision  of  the  ant  or  bee  or  beaver 
can  excel,  cannot  hope  to  rival  the  higher 
faculties  of  reason  and  judgment.  All  labor, 
up  to  a  certain  point,  strengthens  the  powers 
exercised ;  development  of  the  good  is  not,  and 
cannot  be,  anything  but  honorable ;  therefore, 
in  proportion  as  the  higher  and  nobler  powers 
are  brought  into  exercise,  there  is  high  and 
ennobling  toil.  Many  call  the  toiler  in  the 
field  a  clodhopper,  as  though  he  had  no  spark 
of  celestial  reason,  as  if  the  toil  were  as  purely 
mechanical  as  the  work  of  the  steam-plow. 
But  this  is  insulting  to  the  Lord  of  the  vine- 
yard, for  his  Grod  doth  instruct  him  to  discre- 
tion, and  doth  teach  him.  He  has  a  modified 
kind  of  inspiration.  He  uses  his  brains  as 
well  as  his  hands,  his  common  sense  as  well 
as  his  eyes,  his  understanding  as  well  as  his 
feet.  Oh,  how  much  of  the  service  offered  to 
pomp,  pride,  vanity,  and  fashion  lacks  discre- 


THE  PLOWMAN  TAUGHT  OF  GOD.  97 

tion!  Does  not  all  the  faithful  service  ren- 
dered to  Satan  by  his  devotees  lack  all  traces 
of  discretion  1  Are  not  sin  and  folly  synony- 
mous? Is  not  that  man  who  in  his  worldly 
greed  and  prudence  "pulled  down  his  barns 
and  built  greater  "  called  in  Holy  Writ  a  "fool "  ? 
The  world  often  makes  display  without  taste, 
ostentation  without  reason,  great  plans  with- 
out wisdom.  It  glories  more  in  appearance 
than  in  reality ;  it  often  goes  into  life's  battle- 
field without  preparation,  early  in  the  day 
falls  into  an  ambush,  ere  noon  casts  vilely 
aside  its  shield,  and  ere  evening  is  a  dishonor- 
able captive  and  slave.  Yet  God  giveth  wis- 
dom liberally,  and  upbraideth  not  him  that 
asketh  for  it.  Bonaparte  once  remarked  of 
one  of  his  marshals  that  "  he  is  as  brave  as 
his  sword,  but  he  wants  judgment  and  re- 
sources, and  is  not  to  be  trusted  with  a  great 
command."  Many  things  come  by  experience 
— even  the  sportsman's  dog  can  be  taught  to  si- 
lently crouch  in  the  heather,  and  the  cat  can 
be  broken  of  its  pilfering — but  experience  can- 
not give  judgment,  though  it  may  develop  it. 
It  is  like  taste,  genius — a  direct  gift  of  God. 
You  cannot  find  it  in  the  diamond-bed  or  in 
the  secret  stores  of  the  everlasting  hills ;  not 
in  the  majestic  river,  the  umbrageous  woods ; 
not  in  any  of  the  halls  or  corridors  or  state- 


98  THANKSGIVING   SERMONS. 

rooms  of  nature's  palace.  No  principle  of  de- 
velopment can  account  for  this  kingly  faculty 
— so  important  is  it  deemed  that  a  revealed 
will  stoops  to  illumine  it.  It  gives  Grod's  Word 
a  throne  to  sit  on ;  it  makes  faith  become  its 
handmaid  to  tell  it  of  the  substance  of  things 
not  seen. 

This  faculty  of  discretion  men  are  called 
upon  to  exercise  daily.  The  plowman  plows 
to  sow ;  he  wastes  not  his  labor ;  he  breaks  the 
sod  that  there  may  be  a  bed  for  the  seed  and  a 
storehouse  for  the  sun's  warmth  and  reservoir 
for  genial  shower  and  fertilizing  dew.  Pru- 
dence or  discretion  is  a  good  commander-in- 
chief  :  it  has  won  battles  over  the  stubborn- 
ness of  the  soil,  the  inclemency  of  the  climate, 
the  stormy  elements.  With  prudence  as  a 
guide  we  need  scarcely  any  other  in  ordinary 
matters.  If  we  thoughtfully  and  prayerfully 
take  care  of  our  own  actions,  God  will  take 
care  of  the  results.  All  the  loving  forces  of 
nature,  with  the  mighty  armies  which  they 
can  bring  into  the  field,  will  rally  at  our  side, 
and  the  ^'  Captain  of  that  host  is  God."  Pru- 
dence considers  the  end,  whether  it  be  worthy ; 
the  means,  whether  they  are  righteous;  the 
manner,  whether  it  is  comely.  We  have  no 
right  to  tempt  providence  in  any  part  of  its 
wide  domains.     Try  it  in  the  honest  field  by 


THE  PLOWMAN   TAUGHT  OF  GOD.  99 

indolence  or  imprudence  or  lack  of  foresight, 
and  ruin  is  certain.  Try  it  in  ordinary  secu- 
lar matters,  and  bankruptcy  or  disappointment 
is  the  lot  of  our  inheritance.  Try  it  in  the 
realms  of  the  soul  by  neglecting  spiritual  cul- 
ture, and  eternal  winter  petrifies.  He  who 
walks  in  dangerous  ways  will  perish  in  them, 
even  as  Josiah — favorite  of  God  though  he 
was — was  wounded  unto  death  because  he 
pressed  farther  against  his  enemies  than  the 
words  of  Grod  permitted.  It  has  been  said  that 
"the  virtue  most  necessary  to  perfection  is 
prudence ;  for  the  most  virtuous  actions  of 
men,  unless  governed  and  described  by  pru- 
dence, are  neither  pleasing  to  God  nor  service- 
able to  others  nor  profitable  to  ourselves." 
This  prudence,  when  sanctified,  becomes  that 
religion  which  makes  us  wise  unto  salvation. 

4.  A  lesson  of  order.  The  discreet  hus- 
bandman plows  in  the  proper  season  in  order 
that  the  Lord's  plow,  the  frost,  may  pulverize 
the  soil  a  thousand  times  finer  than  any  human 
implement.  He  considers  the  time  ^to  plow. 
That  grain  which  takes  the  longer  to  germi- 
nate, develop,  and  mature  shall  have  the  longer 
season,  like  architect  or  builder  demanding 
time  according  to  the  magnitude  of  the  house, 
palace,  or  temple  to  be  reared.  And  is  not 
order  one  of  the  greatest  of  heaven's  appointed 


100  THANKSGIVING  SEEMONS. 

laws?  Infidels  may  say  all  things  come  by 
chance,  but  chance  alone  could  never  produce 
an  infidel.  Order  is  seen  in  nature;  in  the 
stars,  those  pure  and  beauteous  orbs  of  light 
that  come  and  go  as  "circling  months  fulfil 
their  high  behest,"  "  for  one  star  diff ereth  from 
another  star  in  glory."  It  is  seen  in  each  snow- 
capped mountain,  and  throughout  all  climes, 
beneath  all  varying  skies.  It  governs  alike 
the  far-off  star  and  the  smallest  flower  that 
blooms.  AU  nature  observes  degree,  priority, 
and  place.  Its  line  of  order  is  unbroken.  All 
arts  and  sciences,  before  they  can  be  learned, 
must  be  reduced  into  order  and  method.  A 
camp  well  disciplined  is  a  perfect  pattern  of 
good  order.  The  church  itself  is  to  be  an  army 
with  banners,  to  consist  of  governors  and  gov- 
erned, some  to  tend,  some  to  serve,  some  to 
hear.  Order  is  seen  among  the  spirits  of  the 
just  made  perfect,  for  "  they  that  be  wise  shall 
shine  as  the  brightness  of  the  firmament ;  and 
they  that  turn  many  to  righteousness,  as  the 
stars  forever  and  ever."  Order  is  seen  in  the 
angels,  with  their  respective  thrones,  domin- 
ions, and  principalities. 

If  you  set  all  things  in  their  proper  place 
order  will  crown  the  whole  with  beauty.  The 
world  arose  orderly,  not  chaos-like,  crushed, 
and  bruised.    What  but  this  universal  order 


THE  PLOWMAN  TAUGHT   OF   GOD.  101 

tempted  Darwin  to  classify  ?  He  who  inverts 
the  law  of  order  sins  against  the  Great  Eternal 
Cause.  Let  ns  order  our  souls  aright  by  first 
knowing  ourselves,  and  the  existing  state  of 
things,  as  far  as  they  are  marred  or  mendable ; 
let  us  not  be  afraid  of  disagreeable  facts ;  let 
us  spend  our  moral  heroism  in  striving  by 
God's  help  to  remedy  our  ills,  that  moral  order 
in  all  its  beauty  of  holiness  may  halo  the  soul. 
Evolve  your  heaven  in  due  order,  out  of  holy 
desires,  pure  affection,  spiritual  principle,  full 
consecration.  Let  it  be  choice,  not  chance; 
steady  growth,  not  impulse.  Regulate  the 
soul  by  God's  order  of  letting  its  happiness 
be  within  its  ''  holy  of  holies  "  rather  than  in 
its  "outer  courts,"  more  or  less  profane;  let 
it  depend  on  being  rather  than  on  seeming  to 
be — there  is  no  divine  order  whereby  counter- 
feits can  be  utilized.  Glory  in  the  redeeming 
scheme,  which  is  the  divine  order  of  mending, 
healing,  satisfying,  and  beautifying  the  soul. 
Thus,  by  bowing  down  to  this  great  law,  we 
shall  discover  that  order  means  the  health  of 
the  body,  the  sanity  of  the  mind,  the  peace  of 
the  city,  the  security  of  the  state,  the  universal 
victory  of  Christ's  kingdom.  As  is  the  key- 
stone to  an  arch,  love  to  the  heavenly  world, 
so  is  order  to  all  things. 


THE  VOICE  OF  THANKSaiYINa. 

BY  THE  EEV.  O.  D.  SHERMAN. 

"But  I  will  sacrifice  unto  thee  with  the  voice  of  thanks- 
giving."— Jonah  ii.  9. 

Not  from  court,  of  king,  not  from  conncil- 
chamber  of  state,  not  from  ecclesiastical  tri- 
bunal, not  from  the  heavens  above,  nor  the 
earth  beneath,  but  from  the  waters  under  the 
earth,  from  the  caverns  of  the  mighty  deep, 
our  author  published  his  thanksgiving  call. 
His  name  was  Jonah,  the  son  of  Amittai.  He 
was  a  prophet  of  the  Lord,  and  had  been  com- 
missioned to  go  to  Nineveh  with  a  protest 
against  their  great  wickedness.  The  mission 
he  did  not  like,  and  sought  to  avoid  it  by 
going  down  to  Joppa  and  taking  a  ship  for 
Tarshish.  It  was  of  no  avail.  The  troubled 
waters  raised  their  warning  cry.  The  surging 
biUows  were  God's  messengers.  The  stern 
king  shouted  in  wrath  after  God's  recreant 
prophet.  Jonah  awoke  from  his  slumber  to 
face  an  affrighted  crew  and  an  accusing  con- 

102 


THE  VOICE   OF  THANKSGIVING.  103 

science.  At  his  suggestion  the  sailors  cast 
him  overboard,  and  a  great  fish  the  Lord  had 
prepared  swallowed  him  up. 

Adversity  has  its  uses.  Trouble  may  be, 
often  is,  a  dispensation  of  mercy.  The  gold  is 
only  purified  but  in  the  furnace-fire,  and  only 
shines  but  by  the  hard  and  constant  rubbing 
of  the  burnishing-tool.  The  soul  cut  off  from 
what  is  but  seeming  good  is  often  led  to  seek 
the  only  real  good.  Short-sighted,  foolish,  and 
wicked  as  Jonah  had  been,  now  he  does  a  sen- 
sible thing.  He  prays ;  he  seeks  deliverance 
of  that  Being  whose  fingers  fashioned  the 
fountains  of  the  sea,  and  who  is  Lord  of  life 
and  Master  of  death.  In  the  second  chapter 
of  Jonah  we  have  the  prayer,  and  it  ends  with 
the  declaration  to  which  we  have  alluded,  and 
which  forms  our  text  on  this  bright  Thanks- 
giving Day  (Jonah  ii.  9) :  "  But  I  will  sacrifice 
unto  thee  with  the  voice  of  thanksgiving." 

To  be  grateful  for  benefits  conferred  is 
so  just  an  instinct  of  our  common  liu- 
manity  tliat  it  is  universally  commended 
in  word,  however  mucli  it  may  be  belied 
in  deed. 

As  believers  in  the  Bible  as  the  revelation 
of  the  mind  and  will  of  the  Divine,  we  can  but 
note  how  fully  its  teachings  harmonize  with 
this  deeply  implanted  instinct  of  the  human 


104  THANKSGIVING  SEEMONS. 

family.  From  the  first  unto  the  last,  from 
Eden's  garden  to  Patmos's  island,  this  golden 
thread  of  heaven  is  woven  into  both  the  warp 
and  woof  of  man's  development  and  the  pro- 
gressive unfolding  of  God's  all-embracing  plan. 
The  question  often  arises,  not  so  much  the- 
oretically as  practically,  at  what  point  in  the 
descending  scale  of  benefits  received  does  the 
duty  of  giving  thanks  cease  1  "  What  have  I 
to  be  thankful  for  I "  or  its  equivalent,  "  I  do 
not  know  that  I  have  anything  to  be  thankful 
for,"  are  expressions  very  often  heard.  If  we 
take  the  precepts  of  God's  Word  as  sampled 
by  these  words,  "  Giving  thanks  always  for  all 
things  unto  God,"  and  very  many  others  like 
unto  it,  we  would  find  it  difficult  to  sound  a 
depth  so  low,  even  in  the  deepest  sea  of  trouble, 
when  its  tide  would  not  turn  toward  the  Source 
of  blessings.  The  example  connected  with  our 
text  is  an  extreme  one,  and  if  one  can  conceive 
of  a  mortal  in  a  sadder  plight  and  in  a  seem- 
ingly more  helpless  and  hopeless  condition 
than  poor  Jonah  was  when  he  uttered  it,  his 
imagination  must  be  vivid  indeed.  In  the 
first  place,  he  was  sent  upon  an  errand  he  did 
not  like.  He  had  rather  go  to  any  other  place 
than  Nineveh.  It  is  hard  to  be  thankful  for 
unwelcome  duties.  In  the  second  place,  his 
sea-voyage  had  met  a  most  disastrous  termi- 


THE  VOICE  OF  THANKSGIVING.  105 

nation.  Men  have  been  cast  upon  desolate  isl- 
ands, upon  rocky  headlands,  and  upon  desert 
sands,  and  thanked  God  for  life;  but  here  was 
poor  Jonah,  swallowed  by  a  great  fish,  borne 
beneath  the  dark  flood  whose  billows  lay  above 
him  like  mountains — a  helpless  prisoner  in  the 
darkness  of  a  rayless  night. 

We  here  make  our  first  practical  proposition, 
that  it  is  the  duty  of  every  one  of  God's 
children  to  be  thankful,  and  to  offer  daily 
the  sacrifice  of  thanksgiving.  And,  by  the 
way,  a  few  words  in  regard  to  the  word  duty. 
An  impression  is  apt  to  be  made  that  duty 
implies  always  something  that  is  unpleasant ; 
a  bar  that  forever  lies  right  across  the  nat- 
ural channel  of  enjoyment.  Good  and  pre- 
cious saints  are  striving  to  attain  unto  the 
heights  of  "being  willing  to  do  every  duty." 
And  sometimes  the  impression  is  unwittingly 
made  that  to  really  be  happy  in  this  life  is  a 
sin;  that  a  clouded  life,  a  burdened  heart,  a 
painful,  weary  waiting,  is  the  proper  internal 
frame;  and  a  long  face,  a  disfigured  counte- 
nance, and  groans  and  lamentations  the  proper 
external  manifestation.  That  this  is  so,  and 
much  of  it  of  necessity  so,  is  true.  But  it  is 
only  so  because  man,  in  his  short-sighted  way- 
wardness, has  dug  artificial  channels  for  the 
outflowing  of  his  activities.    Duty's  laws,  if 


106  THANKSGIVING   SEKMONS. 

rightly  understood,  are  the  natural  harmonious 
working  and  expression  of  every  God-given 
power  of  being  and  doing,  of  receiving  and 
giving ;  and  in  that  way  of  living  there  is  the 
highest  enjoyment,  and  in  giving  heed  to  these 
laws  not  only  is  "  thy  servant  warned,"  but  "  in 
keeping  of  them  there  is  great  reward."  In 
Jonah's  case  he  thought  that  the  way  of  duty 
was  hard,  and  he  sought  another  way,  and 
found  to  his  cost  that  his  way  led  down  to 
the  gates  of  death,  and  afterward  that  duty's 
way  was  the  path  of  safety,  honor,  and  praise. 
Therefore,  when  we  say  that  it  is  the  duty  of 
every  one  of  God's  children  to  offer  the  sacri- 
fice of  thanksgiving,  we  are  not  prescribing 
that  which  is  hard,  but,  on  the  contrary,  that 
which  is  life,  and  an  increasing  life ;  and  there 
is  a  universal  law  in  the  development  of  this 
idea  which  is  manifest  in  every  department  of 
human  life.  It  was  wise,  it  was  prudent  in 
Jonah  when  about  to  make  a  new  start  in  life 
to  commence  on  the  solid  platform  of  thanks- 
giving. 

Thankful  for  what  ?  If  we  can  give  a  sat- 
isfactory answer  why  Jonah  should  be  thank- 
ful, and,  in  his  peculiar  circumstances,  should 
sacrifice  with  the  voice  of  thanksgiving,  we 
think  that  it  will  be  sufficient  argument  why 
every  one  should  offer  such  a  sacrifice.    There 


THE  VOICE  OF  THANKSGIVING.  107 

were  two  things  that  Jonah  could  be  thankful 
for,  and  these  two  things  lie  at  the  foundation 
of  all  things  in  the  heavens  above  and  in  the 
earth  and  water  beneath.  First,  he  had  his 
life.  Life !  0  boon  inestimable !  Grift  direct 
from  Grod — part  of  his  own  being.  "And 
the  Lord  Grod  formed  man  of  the  dust  of  the 
ground,  and  breathed  into  his  nostrils  the 
breath  of  life ;  and  man  became  a  living  soul." 
"  In  him  was  life ;  and  the  life  was  the  light  of 
men."  Everything  in  the  universe  has  value 
because  there  is  life.  The  sun  shines  but  to 
give  life.  Light  and  heat  mean  life.  The 
mists  go  up  from  the  ocean,  the  clouds  give 
their  treasures,  the  morning  sheds  her  dew- 
drops,  but  to  give  life ;  and  crowning  all  is  the 
immortal  life,  the  God-inbreathed  life,  the  gift 
of  gifts — a  life  whose  possibilities  for  the  un- 
folding in  all  harmony  and  beauty,  for  pro- 
gressing in  all  knowledge  and  attaining  all 
heights  of  goodness  and  virtue,  are  unlimited. 
Intelligent,  progressive  life  in  this  world  ever 
grows  in  the  appreciation  and  enjoyment  of 
the  beautiful.  As  it  beholds  the  sun  in  the 
morning  coming  out  of  his  royal  chamber,  ar- 
rayed as  a  bridegroom  for  the  wedding,  and 
rejoicing  as  a  strong  man  to  run  a  race,  it  too 
rejoices:  but  what  will  it  be  when  that  life, 
in  its  promised  unfolding,  shall  behold  the 


108  THANKSGIVING   SEEMONS. 

land  that  needs  no  sun,  "  for  the  glory  of  the 
Lord  shall  lighten  it "  I  The  eye  that  is  cul- 
tured in  the  harmonies  of  color  continually 
grows  in  the  enjoyment  of  the  sense  of  the 
beautiful  of  which  each  passing  year  makes 
a  new  revelation — in  the  fresh  brightness  of 
the  spring,  in  the  richness  of  summer  and 
the  ripened  glory  of  the  autumn :  what  will  it 
be,  then,  when  the  eye,  unclouded,  shall  open 
in  the  Paradise  of  Grod?  Our  skies  here  at 
times  are  wondrous  fair;  the  concave  above 
us  is  ever  a  wonderland  of  delight :  what  will 
it  be,  then,  to  a  mind  enlarged  not  simply  by 
accumulating  years,  with  all  of  earth's  infirmi- 
ties, but  a  disenthralled  mind,  growing  in  im- 
mortal youth,  when  beneath  the  overarching 
skies  of  the  upper  kingdom  it  shall  behold  ce- 
lestial beauties  for  evermore  f  Now  life  means 
all  of  this.  All  is  within  its  scope,  all  possible 
even  to  every  human  soul  that  will  seek  it  in 
Grod's  appointed  way. 

Jonah  had  this  life,  and  he  knew  it.  It  was 
intact  even  in  the  narrow  confines  of  the  in- 
side state-room  he  occupied  on  this  submarine 
voyage.  How  extended  or  expanded  his  view 
of  this  life  was  we  may  not  know ;  but  sufii- 
cient  that  he  knew  something  of  its  worth- 
enough,  at  least,  for  a  ground  of  a  thanksgiv- 
ing service. 


THE  VOICE  OF   THANKSGIVING.  109 

The  other  thing  that  Jonah  had,  and  that  he 
had  a  realizing  sense  of,  was  his  God,  and  that 
he  had  not  forsaken  him.  He  had  faith  enough 
to  call  upon  him.  So  these  two  things,  God 
and  life,  Jonah  had,  and  he  was  sensible  of 
their  value.  Upon  these  two  grand  facts  he 
raised  his  song.  With  these  two  stones  he 
built  his  altar  and  offered  his  sacrifice. 

Jonah  has  been  most  unmercifully  criticized. 
He  has  been  called  a  coward,  a  traitor,  a  churl. 
Doubtless  much  of  this  censure  is  merited ;  but 
in  this  case  Jonah  has  covered  himself  with 
everlasting  honor,  and  left  a  lesson  and  exam- 
ple as  a  rich  legacy  to  all  generations.  A  man 
who  can  offer  the  prayer  of  faith  and  the  sacri- 
fice of  thanksgiving  under  such  circumstances 
will  assuredly  come  up  triumphant  out  of  every 
tribulation. 

Having  thus  by  example  and  precept,  we 
trust,  shown  that  there  is  abundant  cause  of 
thanksgiving  on  the  part  of  every  individual 
of  God's  creation,  we  think  that  in  our  par- 
ticular cases  abundant  cause  for  thanks- 
giving yet  more  abounds.  To  us  the  year 
has  given  its  rich  treasures.  The  seed-time 
failed  not.  The  early  and  the  latter  rain  was 
not  withheld.  The  harvest  hour  brought  the 
ripened  grain  and  heavy-laden  sheaf.  The 
hillsides  have  been  covered  with  corn,  and  the 


110  THANKSGIVING   SEKMONS. 

valleys  have  given  pasture  for  the  flocks.  The 
floods  have  not  overwhelmed  us,  the  winds 
have  passed  us  unharmed,  and  the  lightnings 
unscathed.  Famine  hath  not  wasted,  nor  pes- 
tilence devoured.  No  right  of  life,  liberty,  or 
property  has  been  denied  us;  no  dictate  of 
conscience  or  religious  conviction  infringed 
upon.  Surely  all  this  is  ground  for  thanks- 
giving. 

The  Lord  our  God  has  given  us  a  goodly 
heritage,  a  peerless  domain  rich  in  every  ma- 
terial resource.  We  greet  our  sun  as  he  rises 
from  the  waters  of  the  Atlantic,  and  bid  him 
good-night  as  he  sinks  beneath  the  waves  of 
the  Pacific.  Our  finger-tips  are  up  amid  the 
everlasting  snows  of  Arctic  Alaska,  and  our 
feet  are  bathed  amid  the  coral  reefs  of  the 
Mexican  Gulf.  To  us  have  come  institutions 
of  civil  government  that  have  stood  the  test 
of  time,  the  shock  of  arms,  and  have  proved 
worthy  and  enduring.  For  such  a  country 
we  can  and  should  be  very  thankful.  Well  is 
it,  around  this  altar,  to  offer  sacrifice  with  the 
voice  of  thanksgiving. 

Well,  say  some,  is  not  all  this  wonderful  in- 
crease in  numbers,  of  wealth,  of  extension  of 
territory,  of  power,  after  all  but  an  added  dan- 
ger, a  source  of  alarm  and  cause  of  lamenta- 
tion, rather  than  of  thanksgiving  !     That  there 


THE   VOICE   OF   THANKSGIVING.  Ill 

is  danger  in  these  things  it  is  not  wise  to  ignore 
or  deny.  The  inflow  from  the  teeming  debased 
millions  of  the  Old  World,  the  accumulation  of 
wealth  in  a  few  hands,  with  a  corresponding 
increase  of  pauperism,  the  enormous  produc- 
tion of  intoxicating  liquors,  and  increasing 
consumption  with  its  entailment  of  poverty 
and  crime — all  these,  and  perhaps  many  other 
things,  raise  warning  voices. 

So,  then,  we  would  be  thankful  to-day  that 
those  who  seek  to  and  do  poison  our  body  poli- 
tic do  utter  their  warning  signals,  and  that 
every  such  warning  is  a  call  to  repentance. 
And  we  are  thankful  that  there  are  antidotes 
for  these  ills,  and  that  Christian  courage  and 
wisdom  are  so  zealously  working  by  God's  help 
to  make  these  antidotes  effectual. 

Every  immigrant  that  lands  at  Ellis  Isl- 
and is  supplied  by  agents  of  the  Bible  Union 
with  a  Bible  in  his  own  language.  The  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church  Extension  Society  is 
building  at  the  rate  of  two  churches  for  each 
day  in  the  year.  South  and  West.  I  know  that 
schools  and  colleges  are  being  multiplied;  I 
know  that  over  half  a  million  women,  the  best 
and  purest  of  our  land,  are  earnestly  working 
and  praying  to  put  down  the  demon  of  the 
still,  and  that  wise  and  brave  men  second  all 
these  efforts.     Yes,  thank  Grod!  rattlesnakes 


112  THANKSGIVING   SEEMONS. 

must  rattle,  and  each  warning  note,  however 
defiant,  and  each  pang  from  the  poisoned  fang, 
will  lead  the  nation  to  cry  for  and  seek  the 
means  of  deliverance. 

Let  us  thank  Grod  and  take  courage,  and  on 
this  memorial  day  bury  all  the  bitterness  of  the 
past,  and  cultivate  that  charity  whose  sweet- 
ness "beareth  all  things,  believeth  all  things, 
hopeth  all  things,  endureth  all  things." 

The  God  of  our  fathers,  who  watched  the 
course  of  the  "Mayflower"  over  the  stormy 
sea,  who  guarded  the  planting  of  the  nation, 
whose  care  has  ever  been  about  us  as  a  wall 
of  defense,  and  whose  presence,  Uke  as  it  was 
to  Israel  of  old,  by  pillar  of  cloud  by  day  and 
glowing  fire  by  night,  has  led  the  march  of  our 
empire  westward,  will  not  desert  us  now,  for 
his  goodness  endureth  unto  all  generations. 

Thanking  Grod  for  past  and  present  bless- 
ings, let  us  move  along  the  way  of  his  own 
appointing,  and  spend  not  alone  this  day,  but 
all  the  days  that  shall  be  given  us,  in  songs 
of  praise,  in  loving  words  and  loving  deeds ; 
then  shall  we  ever  offer  an  acceptable  sacrifice 
from  a  heart  attuned  and  a  life  conformed  to 
the  divine  life,  even  with  the  voice  of  thanks- 
giving. 


THE  FEAST  OF  TABEENACLES. 

BY  THE  REV.  RALPH  WILLIAMS. 

'^ThoTi  shalt  observe  the  Feast  of  Tabernacles  seven  days, 
after  that  thou  hast  gathered  in  thy  corn  and  thy  wine." — 
Dent.  xvi.  13. 

On  the  fifteenth  day  of  the  seventh  month, 
in  the  autumn  of  the  year,  when  all  the  chief 
fruits  of  the  ground — the  corn  and  the  oil 
and  the  wine — were  gathered  in,  this  "Feast 
of  the  Ingathering"  was  to  be  kept.  It  was 
the  "harvest-home"  of  the  house  of  Israel. 
One  of  the  special  peculiarities  of  the  feast 
was  that  during  the  seven  days  it  lasted  the 
people  were  commanded  to  dwell  in  booths  or 
huts  formed  of  the  boughs  of  trees.  When 
the  feast  was  kept  in  Jerusalem  these  were 
constructed  in  the  courts  and  on  the  roofs  of 
the  houses,  in  the  court  of  the  temple,  in  the 
street  of  the  water-gate,  and  in  the  street  of 
the  gate  of  Ephraim.  They  used  the  boughs 
of  the  olive,  the  palm,  the  pine,  the  myrtle, 
and  other  trees  with  thick  foliage. 

113 


114  THANKSGIVING   SEEMONS. 

All  the  Hebrew  feasts  were  seasons  of  re- 
joicing, but  this  was  the  gladdest  and  bright- 
est of  them  all.  The  free  life  in  the  open  air 
in  a  beautiful  clime,  the  meeting  of  old  friends 
parted  by  long  distances  at  other  times,  the 
huts  all  over  the  city,  the  fruits  and  palms 
carried  by  them  all,  must  have  made  the  streets 
gay  and  bright  by  day ;  and  at  night  the  lamps, 
torches,  and  music,  together  with  the  joyful 
gatherings  in  the  courts  of  the  temple,  gave  a 
festive  character  to  the  whole  scene. 

This  joyful  feast  was  kept  year  by  year  by 
the  whole  people  by  the  special  command  of 
Grod  himself.  We  see,  therefore,  that  in  set- 
ting apart  a  day  for  the  thankful  remembrance 
of  the  ingathering  of  the  fruits  of  the  earth  we 
are  strictly  within  the  lines  of  Scripture  teach- 
ing. The  Saviour  himself  joined  in  it  during 
his  earthly  ministry.  We  ought  most  heartily 
to  keep  such  a  feast,  not  only  because  it  was 
divinely  appointed  under  the  old  covenant, 
but  also  because  the  reasons  for  such  a  com- 
memoration hold  good  for  us  as  well  as  for 
them. 

1.  The  feast  was  an  annual  remem- 
brance of  their  past  history. 

It  pointed  back  to  the  great  deliverance 
from  Egypt,  when  the  fetters  of  Pharaoh  were 
broken,  and  they  stood  a  free  people  on  the 


THE   FEAST   OF   TABERNACLES.  115 

shore  of  that  sea  which  had  overwhelmed  their 
oppressors.  The  little  leafy  booths  in  which 
they  dwelt,  which  filled  the  streets  of  Jeru- 
salem, were  a  remembrance  of  the  huts  and 
tents  in  which  their  fathers  had  dwelt  during 
the  wilderness  life.  And  then  there  was  Jeru- 
salem, which  they  possessed,  their  hill-girt  city, 
the  joy  of  the  whole  earth,  with  its  glorious 
temple  of  snowy  marble  and  yellow  gold  glit- 
tering in  that  bright  Syrian  sunlight  upon  the 
summit  of  Zion.  The  city  was  the  center  and 
the  representative  of  that  national  life  which 
was  so  free,  so  strong,  and  so  prosperous. 
Who  had  delivered  their  fathers  from  the 
bondage?  Who  had  guided  and  sustained 
them  through  the  long  desert  march?  Who 
had  enabled  them  to  triumph  over  the  hea- 
then nations  and  conquer  the  land?  Who 
preserved  them  from  the  great  alien  empires 
and  made  them  prosperous  from  age  to  age  ! 

This  feast  taught  them  year  by  year  to  go 
down  to  the  roots  of  it  all;  to  see  what  the 
national  life  was  resting  upon,  what  was  the 
source  of  their  continued  strength.  In  the 
feast  they  were  taught  to  look  not  to  the  hu- 
man but  to  the  divine  side  of  the  problem. 
They  saw  that  their  prosperity  rested  not  on 
the  wisdom  of  statesmen,  the  might  of  their 
arms,  or  the  natural  advantages  or  material 


J 


116  THANKSGIVING   SERMONS. 

resources  of  the  land.  It  was  not  the  sword 
of  David  or  the  wisdom  of  Solomon  or  the 
fertility  of  the  soil  which  made  their  country 
the  glory  of  all  lands:  it  was  the  grace  and 
goodness  of  their  God. 

This  was  one  of  the  great  lessons  of  the 
feast. 

May  not  we  try  to  learn  it?  How  many  and 
how  great  are  our  national  blessings !  I  know 
no  nation  possessing  greater  ones.  Our  civili- 
zation, our  resources,  and  our  freedom ;  and, 
above  all,  our  religious  privileges — the  pure 
form  of  the  Christian  faith  handed  down  to 
us,  to  which  every  man  may  conform  his  life 
without  fear.  What  are  the  sources  of  our 
prosperity  1  Our  coal  ?  Our  iron  ?  The  wis- 
dom of  our  public  men?  The  indomitable 
courage  of  our  race!  These  are  all  impor- 
tant, but  these  combined  could  not  alone  make 
our  country  great.  Where  do  these  come 
from  ?  The  ultimate  source  of  it  all  is  to  be 
found  in  the  providential  mercy  and  benevo- 
lence of  God.  One  element,  therefore,  in  our 
harvest  festival  should  be  a  remembrance  of 
all  our  personal  and  national  mercies,  and  this 
should  lead  to  a  real  thanksgiving  to  God  for 
all  his  goodness  to  us. 

2.  The  feast  of  tabernacles  was  a  feast 
of  tliaiikfulness  for  the  annual  Increase 
of  the  earth. 


THE  FEAST  OF  TABEENACLES.  117 

The  fruits  of  the  earth  were  once  more  gath- 
ered in.  Wind  and  storm,  blight  and  mildew, 
locust  and  cankerworm  had  done  their  worst, 
and  had  failed  to  break  Grod's  ancient  promise. 
The  vintage  was  ended.  The  corn  and  the 
wine  were  safely  housed  in  the  garners  and 
stores  of  Israel. 

They  knew  the  importance  of  this.  A  na- 
tion's life  not  only  wants  to  be  founded,  it 
must  be  maintained.  While  many  things  may 
be  needed  for  sustaining  the  fabric  of  an  em- 
pire, these  elementary  things,  the  common 
fruits  of  the  earth,  are  the  most  necessary  of 
all.  A  nation  may  do  without  great  states- 
men or  great  warriors;  it  may  survive  with 
no  poets,  no  painters,  no  musicians;  it  may 
do  without  great  wealth  or  high  culture,  but 
it  cannot  do  without  plowboys.  The  harvest 
makes  yearly  provision  for  the  common  es- 
sential need  of  all  life;  without  this  nations 
must  perish  and  man  would  die  off  from  the 
face  of  the  earth. 

The  Jewish  people  had  no  doubt  as  to  the 
source  from  whence  these  most  essential  gifts 
came  to  them.  They  believed  in  a  personal 
God.  They  celebrated  the  Feast  of  the  Ingath- 
ering with  the  old  psalm :  "  Thou  crownest  the 
year  with  thy  goodness ;  and  thy  paths  drop 
fatness."  Their  national  life  was  founded  by 
God.    Every  harvest  was  a  fresh  act  of  his 


118  THANKSGIVING   SEKMONS. 

loving  bounty ;  it  told  them  that  the  Grod  who 
cared  for  their  fathers  was  earing  for  them  in 
providing  for  their  wants  and  sustaining  the 
social  and  religious  system  which  he  had  es- 
tablished. Hence  the  lofty  praise  which  runs 
through  so  many  of  their  psalms. 

And  is  not  this  a  special  reason  why  we 
should  keep  this  Thanksgiving !  It  helps  us 
to  meet  one  of  the  great  and  pressing  dangers 
of  our  day.  Men  have  discovered  so  many 
precious  truths  about  nature,  they  see  so  much 
more  clearly  the  perfection  of  its  mechanism 
and  its  laws,  that  the  tendency  is  to  admire 
the  laws  and  forget  the  Lawgiver.  They  as- 
cribe the  wonderful  works  about  us  to  some 
intangible  force,  and  ignore  or  deny  a  personal 
God. 

Our  annual  Thanksgiving  is  the  expression 
before  all  men  of  our  personal  faith,  not  in 
nature,  but  in  the  Lord  of  nature.  It  says 
that  we  look  upon  the  annual  produce  of  the 
earth — the  corn  and  fruit  and  flowers — not  as 
the  result  of  the  working  of  blind  material 
laws,  but  as  the  loving  and  bounteous  gifts  of 
God.  Such  a  service  as  this  enters  our  pro- 
test against  the  theories  which  dishonor  God 
and  banish  him  from  the  throne  of  his  own 
I  universe.  We  declare  in  it  that  we  cannot  ac- 
cept the  pantheism  which  looks  upon  every- 
thing as  equally  divine ;  nor  can  we  receive  the 


THE   FEAST   OF   TABEKNACLES.  119 

theory  of  evolution,  with  its  Protean  handmaid, 
natural  selection,  as  sufficient  in  themselves  to 
account  for  the  origin  of  all  things.  We  can 
accept  no  theory  about  the  origin  of  nature 
which  banishes  a  will  and  wisdom  and  love 
from  it.  When  we  look  at  the  vast  and  com- 
plex problem  of  the  universe,  and  think  also 
of  the  mystery  of  man,  we  can  find  no  sure 
foundation  for  our  faith  but  the  old  one :  "  In 
the  beginning  God  created  the  heaven  and  the 
earth." 

This  is  what  we  mean  by  our  Thanksgiving. 
We  look  at  the  earth  with  its  abounding  pro- 
duce and  believe  we  see  there  the  power,  the 
goodness,  the  benevolence  of  Grod.  We  come 
to  thank  him  for  the  unceasing  mercy  with 
which,  knowing  our  wants,  he  sustains  and 
blesses  our  lives. 

3.  The  Feast  of  Tabernacles  also  bore 
ivltness  to  a  common  brotherhood. 

Philo  saw  in  this  feast  a  testimony  to  the 
original  equality  of  the  whole  race.  During 
the  week,  rich  and  poor,  priest,  prince,  and 
peasant,  lived  in  the  booths,  which  were  con- 
structed of  the  most  ordinary  materials.  What- 
ever differences  there  might  be  between  them, 
there  was  for  the  time  being  a  community  of 
living.  And  this  met  one  of  the  dangers  of 
their  day.  Divided  into  different  tribes,  sepa- 
rate and  selfish  interests  might  easily  spring 


120  THANKSGIVING  SEEMONS. 

up  among  them.  One  tribe  or  family  might 
grow  rich,  and  another  might  grow  poor.  Such 
might  soon  become  separated  from  each  other 
by  an  ever- widening  gulf.  Such  a  separation 
would  give  rise  to  jealousy,  discord,  strife; 
then  weakness,  disintegration,  ruin,  would 
speedily  follow.  In  the  history  of  how  many 
states  have  we  witness  to  this  ?  But  the  feast 
brought  home  to  them  the  great  fact  that  they 
were  all  essentially  one.  While  there  were 
differences  of  tribes,  ages,  and  conditions,  they 
were  all  brethren,  descendants  of  a  common 
ancestor,  holding  a  common  faith,  and  sharing 
in  common  spiritual  mercies.  The  rich  were 
thus  taught  to  be  generous  to  the  poor,  and 
the  poor  not  to  be  envious  of  the  rich.  The 
parting  sections  of  society  were  drawn  together 
into  a  closer  and  more  loving  union.  This  was 
part  of  the  annual  work  of  their  joyful  feast. 

Even  so  has  Thanksgiving  Day  its  lesson 
for  us.  It  calls  us  all  back  to  first  principles. 
We  may  have  more  or  we  may  have  less  than 
others;  but  however  much  or  however  little 
we  have,  we  are  all  dependent  upon  God's 
common  yearly  gifts  in  nature.  The  harvest 
tells  us  that,  while  we  may  see  many  differ- 
ences, yet  at  the  bottom  we  are  all  brethren, 
childi-en  of  a  common  Father,  recipients  of 
common  bounties,  partakers  of  a  common  re- 


THE   FEAST   OF   TABEKNACLES.  121 

demption,  and  pilgrims  journeying  to  a  com- 
mon home. 

These  are  among  the  main  lessons  of  this 
day.  They  are  so  great  and  so  manifest  that 
some  may  be  inclined  to  say :  "  Is  there  any 
need  for  a  special  feast  to  keep  them  before 
us?  Do  we  need  reminding!  Will  not  our 
hearts  be  always  filled  with  thankfulness  for 
such  mercies?"  Are  we  always  thankful! 
Are  there  not  large  numbers  who  never  think 
about  such  things,  who  take  all  God's  great 
gifts  as  mere  matters  of  course,  without  any 
thanks  at  all !  And  with  the  very  best  of  us 
is  it  not  the  tendency  to  think  much  more  of 
present  wants  than  of  past  mercies !  We  need 
commemoration  days.  As  Old  Mortality  went 
round  from  time  to  time  and  recut  and  fresh- 
ened up  the  wearing  inscriptions  on  the  tombs 
of  the  Covenanters,  so  we  need  festival  days 
to  cause  us  to  keep  great  truths  in  remem- 
brance and  to  lead  us  to  meditate  on  Grod's 
commonest  gifts. 

May  our  Thanksgiving  service  do  this  for  us 
all.  May  it  help  us  to  see  God  in  the  mercies 
of  life.  May  it  draw  us  nearer  to  him  than 
we  have  ever  been  before.  May  it  teach  us, 
also,  our  brotherhood.  May  it  draw  us  nearer 
to  each  other,  and  lead  us  to  care  for  and  help 
each  other.  Then  God's  gracious  purposes  in 
the  gifts  of  nature  will  be  fulfilled  in  us. 


ALL    GIFTS    GOD'S    GIFTS. 

BY  THE  EEV.  RALPH  WH^LIAMS. 

"  Every  good  gift  and  every  perfect  gift  is  from  above,  and 
Cometh  down  from  the  Father  of  lights,  with  whom  is  no 
variableness,  neither  shadow  of  turning." — James  i.  17. 

And  how  these  gifts  abound !  They  abound 
not  in  one,  but  in  every  department  of  hfe. 

Look  at  these  flowers  with  which  the  taste 
and  kindness  of  so  many  have  beautified  the 
church ;  see  how  perfect  they  are  in  form,  how 
beautiful  they  are  with  their  delicate  and 
glowing  tints  of  coloring,  how  rich  and  sweet 
is  their  perfume!  They  spangle  the  mea- 
dows, they  adorn  our  gardens,  they  brighten 
our  homes,  they  deck  our  persons ;  they  help 
to  refine  our  lives  and  make  them  happier. 
Whence  come  they?  "Every  good  gift  and 
every  perfect  gift  is  from  above."  They  come 
from  God. 

Such  beauty  and  such  abundance  char- 
acterize all  the  material  world  on  which 
we  dwell.     The  whole  earth  is  full  of  what  is 

122 


ALL  GIFTS  god's   GIFTS.  123 

beautiful  and  what  is  useful.  As  we  are  able 
to  explore  its  mountains  and  valleys,  row  down 
its  sparkling  rivers,  or  sail  across  its  restless 
seas,  what  marvelous  pictures  does  it  set  be- 
fore us !  To  see  the  beauty  of  them  is  a  source 
of  mental  inspiration  to  us.  Then  there  is  the 
vast  produce  which  goes  on  year  after  year 
with  unfailing  regularity :  the  food  which  is 
brought  forth  out  of  the  earth,  the  corn — "  the 
bread  which  strengtheneth  man's  heart " — and 
the  other  fruits  of  the  earth  by  which  man's 
life  is  sustained.  Whence  come  they  ?  "  Every 
good  gift  and  every  perfect  gift  is  from  above." 
They  come  from  God. 

We  must  not  limit  the  truth  to  the 
earth  on  which  we  dwell.  Look  upward 
at  the  sky.  See  the  multitudes  of  stars  which 
glitter  in  the  midnight  heavens,  scattered,  as 
Herschel  says,  like  gold-dust  through  the  Milky 
Way ;  great  central  suns,  each  of  them  probably 
accompanied  by  his  train  of  subject  worlds. 
How  vast  and  how  bright  are  these  orbs  which 
fill  the  immensity  of  space!  Whence  come 
they?  They,  too,  are  the  work  of  the  same 
Almighty  Being ;  he  is  "  the  Father  of  lights." 

In  facing  the  many  subtle  and  perplexing 
problems  which  the  world  presents  to  us,  amid 
the  clash  of  arms  with  which  society  rings, 
raised  by  those  who  are  zealous  for  conflicting 


124  THANKSGIVING  SEEMONS. 

theories,  the  Christian  takes  his  stand  upon 
a  text  like  this  as  expressing  the  faith  with 
which  he  regards  the  mystery  and  the  bound- 
less good  of  life.  G-ood  gifts  and  perfect  gifts 
all  come  from  God. 

Let  us  look  at  our  subject  a  little  more 
in  detail. 

Take  another  aspect  of  it.  Go  into  some 
one  of  our  great  churches  or  cathedrals;  see 
the  grandeur  and  beauty  of  their  design,  the 
noble  outline  of  their  arches,  the  lengthened 
aisles,  the  rich  coloring  with  which  the  delicate 
tracery  of  their  windows  is  filled,  the  artistic 
carving  in  oak  and  stone.  As  you  try  to  take 
in  the  many-sided  beauty  of  the  picture  before 
you,  think  how  strong  and  how  real  must  have 
been  the  sense  of  beauty  in  the  mind  of  the  man 
who  conceived  and  planned  it  all.  How  won- 
derfully skilful,  too,  were  the  trained  eyes  and 
hands  which  gave  it  its  outward  form !  What 
a  gifted  architect !  what  gifted  craftsmen !  we 
say,  as  we  look  at  the  whole  or  as  we  study 
the  details  of  the  great  work.  Gifted !  By 
whom  f  Whence  came  their  intellectual  power 
and  their  manual  skill  ?  Trace  them  to  their 
ultimate  source  and  you  can  only  say  of  them^ 
that  they  were  God's  gifts.  "  Every  good  gift 
and  every  perfect  gift  is  from  above." 

Or  again : 


ALL  GIFTS   god's   GIFTS.  125 

Take  up  some  well-known  classic  from  the 
ancient  world  or  of  our  own  day:  read  Ho- 
mer's great  poems,  with  their  freshness,  their 
quaint  simplicity,  their  abounding  illustra- 
tions; or  read  those  plays  which  unveil  the 
breadth  and  the  ample  resources  of  Shake- 
speare's master  mind ;  or  study  the  imagina- 
tion and  the  gorgeous  word-painting  in  Mil- 
ton's stately  lines.  Think  of  the  triumphs  of 
mind  in  grappling  with  the  problems  of  na- 
ture :  how  it  has  weighed  the  planets,  measured 
the  distances  of  far-off  suns,  and  analyzed  the 
light  which  has  journeyed  over  such  vast  soli- 
tudes of  space,  and  thereby  learned  some  of  the 
mystery  of  the  substances  of  which  those  stu- 
pendous worlds  are  composed.  What  insight 
thinkers  have  gained  as  to  the  meaning  of  the 
universe  and  the  nature  of  man !  How  great 
and  precious  the  possessions  accumulated  by 
their  labors,  which  we,  "the  heirs  of  all  the 
ages,"  have  within  our  reach  to  enrich  our 
own  mental  life !  They  have  kindled  the  torch 
of  truth,  and  it  shall  shine  for  all  time.  With 
what  noble  gifts  were  they  dowered!  Grifts 
from  whom^  What  had  Plato  or  Dante  or 
Shakespeare  or  Newton  that  they  had  not  re- 
ceived 1  The  light  which  burned  so  brightly 
within  them  came  from  the  great  central  foun- 
tain of  all  light  and  all  truth.    It  was  God's 


126  THANKSGIVING  SERMONS. 

gift.  It  is  the  inspiration  of  the  Almighty 
which  giveth  understanding. 

Then,  further,  let  us  think  not  only  of 
man's  intellectual  gifts,  hut  of  his  moral 
qualities. 

How  wonderful  it  is  to  see  a  sense  of  right, 
and  unflinching  devotion  to  it,  as  the  highest 
thing  in  life !  What  power  this  wields  when 
will  and  conscience,  hand  in  hand,  govern  the 
passions  and  appetites  of  the  fleshly  nature ! 
A  man  has  some  lofty  ideal  of  truth  and  duty ; 
it  beckons  him  to  walk  in  a  bare  and  flinty 
pathway,  but  in  spite  of  this  he  follows  it  with 
unflinching  devotion  to  the  very  end.  Even 
in  the  old  heathen  life  we  have  abundant  illus- 
trations of  this.  Look  at  Regulus,  the  cap- 
tive, sent  home  on  an  embassy  to  the  Roman 
senate  to  persuade  them  to  make  peace  with 
Carthage.  On  reaching  Rome,  with  patriotic 
feeling  he  counseled  his  countrymen  to  con- 
tinue the  war  with  their  enemies  (foreseeing 
the  triumph  which  soon  would  crown  the  Ro- 
man arms),  and  then  calmly  went  back  to 
Carthage  to  his  cruel  doom.  He  had  prom- 
ised his  captors  that  he  would  return  if  his 
embassy  failed.  How  unselfish  and  how  true 
was  his  loyalty  to  his  country!  How  un- 
shrinking was  his  fidelity  to  a  spoken  word ! 

Then,  as  the  sunlight  comes  to  the  Alpine 


ALL   GIFTS   god's   GIFTS.  127 

peak  and  bathes  its  white,  stainless  snow  with 
a  glorious  golden  radiance,  so  Christianity 
comes  to  man  to  strengthen,  enlarge,  and  re- 
fine all  in  him  of  good,  bestowing  the  grace  by 
which  natural  virtue  is  raised  up  to  the  nobler 
level  of  Christian  holiness.  See  St.  John, 
whose  whole  nature  was  filled  with  divine 
love.  See  St.  Paul,  with  his  clear  grasp  of 
truth  and  his  burning  zeal  to  plant  the  banner 
of  the  cross  in  all  lands.  What  noble  ideals 
of  virtue  and  what  large  measures  of  self-sac- 
rificing love  filled  the  souls  of  such  men !  But 
the  grace  given  is  not  confined  to  them.  It 
runs,  like  a  vein  of  gold,  through  every  suc- 
ceeding age  of  the  world's  history.  ISTor  has 
the  fearless  devotion  failed.  Every  century 
can  tell  its  story  of  the  many  who  have  gone 
out  from  home  and  kindred  to  carry  the  torch 
of  the  truth  into  the  dark  places  of  the  earth. 
They  have  given  up  all  the  comforts  and  en- 
dearments of  home  life  that  they  might  teach 
the  ignorant  and  save  the  outcasts  through  the 
power  of  a  Saviour's  love.  Thank  God  for  such 
men !  They  counted  not  their  lives  dear  unto 
them.  They  give  abiding  witness  to  a  selfish 
world  that  life  may  have  higher  aims  than 
wealth  or  position,  that  it  may  be  nobler  to  be 
smitten  down  by  the  poisoned  arrow  or  the 
war-club  of  the  savage,  or  to  fall  in  some 


128  THANKSGIVING   SEKMONS. 

fever-stricken  morass  amid  the  squalor  a,nd 
barbarism  of  a  heathen  land,  than  to  have  a 
body  clothed  in  pnrple  and  gold  while  the  soul 
withal  is  enervated  by  indulgence  and  by  evil. 

What  a  chapter  about  man  and  the  universe 
opens  out  before  us  as  we  ruminate  on  such 
thoughts !  What  moral  and  spiritual  great- 
ness is  unveiled  in  the  lives  of  the  saints ! 
Whence  comes  it?  It  is  God's  gift  of  grace 
working  in  them.  "  Every  good  gift  and  every 
perfect  gift  is  from  above." 

Grod  gives — and  with  what  boundless 
exuberance  and  love !  How  largely  and 
how  unceasingly,  from  that  far-back  eternity 
when  first  the  worlds  were  formed,  right  on 
from  age  to  age,  has  he  showered  down  his 
good  and  perfect  gifts !  How  lavish  is  the 
produce  of  nature !  See  the  flowers  that 
spangle  the  meadows — in  what  multitudes  do 
they  grow !  How  thick  the  valleys  stand  with 
corn !  See  the  trees  in  the  orchard,  how  they 
are  laden  with  fruit,  every  branch  bending  to 
the  earth  with  its  precious  burden !  Brooks 
quaintly  illustrates  this  self-evident  fact.  He 
says :  '^  I  have  heard  of  the  Spanish  ambassa- 
dor that,  coming  to  see  the  treasury  of  St. 
Mark's,  Venice,  that  is  so  much  cried  up,  he 
fell  groping  at  the  bottom  of  the  chests  and 
trunks,  to  see  whether  they  had  any  bottom. 


ALL  GIFTS   god's   GIFTS.  129 

Being  asked  the  reason  why  he  did  so,  he  an- 
swered, ^My  master's  treasure  differs  from 
yours  and  excels  yours.'  He  was  alluding  to 
the  mines  in  Mexico,  Peru,  and  western  India. 
All  men's  mints,  bags,  purses,  and  coffers  may 
be  quickly  exhausted  and  drawn  dry;  but  God 
is  such  an  inexhaustible  portion  that  he  can 
never  be  drawn  dry.  All  God's  treasures  are 
bottomless;  all  his  mints  are  bottomless;  all 
his  bags  are  bottomless.  Millions  of  thousands 
in  heaven  and  earth  feed  every  day  upon  him, 
and  yet  he  feels  it  not.  He  is  still  a-giving, 
and  yet  his  purse  is  never  empty ;  he  is  still 
a-fiUing  all  the  courts  of  heaven  and  all  the 
creatures  on  earth,  and  yet  he  is  a  fountain 
that  still  overflows." 

Here  is  the  great  fact  the  text  declares ;  what 
duties  flow  from  it ! 

1.  Worship.  A  tribute  of  praise  is  due 
from  the  creature  to  the  Creator.  Here  in 
this  our  Thanksgiving  we  come  to  offer  it. 
Let  us  unite  in  blessing  him  with  all  our 
hearts  for  all  his  good  and  perfect  gifts. 

2.  Reverence.  "  The  earth  is  the  Lord's, 
and  the  fullness  thereof."  It  is  not  man's 
world  in  which  you  live  and  move ;  it  is  God's 
world. 

"  Put  off  thy  shoes  from  off  thy  feet ;  for  the 
place  whereon  thou  standest  is  holy  ground." 


130  THANKSGIVING  SEEMONS. 

Eeverence  yourselves:  "It  is  he  that  hath 
made  us,  and  not  we  ourselves."  Use  not  the 
powers  of  life  as  instruments  of  evil.  Defile 
not  that  which  Grod's  wisdom  and  love  have 
planned.  Reverence  the  bodies  and  souls  you 
possess.  Here  may  we  find  the  true  dignity 
of  human  life :  we  are  created  by  God  in  his 
own  image ;  we  are  redeemed  by  the  cross  of 
his  dear  Son,  and  so  may  become  his  children 
by  adoption  and  grace. 

3.  Unselfish  use  of  the  gift^  of  life.  All 
things  are  gifts  to  us.  They  are  not  our  own ; 
we  are  but  stewards  of  what  has  been  intrusted 
to  us  by  God.  "  A  man  can  receive  nothing, 
except  it  be  given  him  from  Heaven."  "  What 
hast  thou  that  thou  didst  not  receive  I "  Then 
the  duty  follows  as  St.  Peter  teaches  it :  "  As 
every  man  hath  received  the  gift,  even  so  min- 
ister the  same  one  to  another,  as  good  stew- 
ards of  the  manifold  grace  of  God." 

Harvest  Thanksgiving  is  a  recognition  of 
this  in  act.  If  these  things  are  not  true,  then 
our  special  services,  our  decorations,  our  an- 
thems, make  up  but  a  meaningless  ceremony. 
If  we  can  trace  the  produce  of  the  earth  no 
farther  than  the  field  acted  upon  by  human 
toil,  if  we  see  nothing  beyond  the  farmer, 
what  do  we  thank  God  for  ?  But  if  we  believe 
the  teaching  of  the  text,  then  in  our  Thanks- 


ALL  GIFTS  GOD'S   GIFTS.  Idl 

giving  we  should  act  upon  it  by  making  some 
gift  to  God  as  an  acknowledgment  of  the  debt 
due  to  him.  The  gift  should  be  large,  because 
of  the  largeness  of  his  goodness  and  love  to  us. 
The  law  of  Christian  giving  should  be  like  the 
law  of  Christian  love.  We  should  give  with 
bounty,  with  hearty  good-will,  as  God  has 
given  to  us. 

I  fear  we  are  not  always  ready  to  do  this. 
Some,  of  course,  may  deny  the  assertion  of 
our  text  as  a  theory  of  the  origin  of  all  things. 
They  are  but  few  when  compared  with  the 
vast  multitude  who  accept  the  theory  as  a 
theory,  but  deny  it  in  their  daily  life.  Such 
acknowledge  that  every  good  gift  comes  from 
God,  but  when  their  turn  comes  to  give  they 
shrink  back  from  the  practical  duty  the  theory 
involves.  As  a  Puritan  writer  points  out: 
"God  gives  us  the  best.  We  give  God  the 
worst.  We  call  out  the  bad  sheep  for  his 
tithe,  the  sleepiest  hours  for  his  prayers,  the 
clippings  of  our  wealth  for  his  poor,  a  corner 
of  the  heart  for  his  ark  when  Dagon  sits  up- 
permost in  his  temple.  .  .  .  He  has  bowels  of 
brass  and  a  heart  of  iron  that  cannot  mourn 
at  this  our  requital."  * 

Is  it  to  be  so  with  us  on  this  festal  day  1  Is 
there  one  in  his  temple  who  will  make  no  offer- 

*  Adams. 


132  THANKSGIVING  SERMONS. 

ing  to  Grod  at  all !  Will  any  one  give  the  small- 
est coin  and  make  an  offering  which  costs  no 
self-denial  and  has  no  love  in  it!  Let  such 
beware.  Loveless  acts  petrify  the  heart  and 
make  it  incapable  of  receiving  the  blessing  of 
God. 

Oh,  may  a  better  spirit  come  to  dwell  in  us ! 
Let  all  tlie  acts  of  life,  even  those  un- 
seen by  others,  have  a  divine  nobleness 
stamped  upon  them.  In  some  of  the  old 
sacred  buildings  we  find  every  part  finished 
with  the  utmost  care ;  not  only  the  parts  al- 
ways seen,  but  even  those  which  could  only 
be  reached  by  toilsome  climbing  were  wrought 
with  equal  care  and  skill.  And  why  1  Because 
the  whole  carving  and  execution  were  consid- 
ered as  an  act  of  solemn  worship  and  adora- 
tion, in  which  both  artist  and  workman  offered 
up  their  best  work  to  the  praise  of  the  Creator. 
Alas,  how  different  the  modern  spirit  with  its 
haste  and  its  scamping !  its  aim  being  gaudy 
show  and  quick  profits,  and  not  the  high  qual- 
ity of  the  work  it  undertakes.  May  the  nobler 
motive  run  through  our  lives  and  influence  all, 
even  our  simplest,  acts.  Let  it  penetrate  our 
speech  and  our  trading,  and  come  to  its  full 
flower  in  the  worship  and  gifts  which  we  offer 
to  God. 

All  gifts  are  God's  gifts.     The  scholar's 


ALL  GIFTS   god's   GIFTS.  133 

wisdom,  the  soldier's  courage,  the  statesman's 
insight,  the  artist's  genius,  the  mechanic's 
skill;  everything  we  have — our  health,  our 
minds,  our  means,  our  taste,  our  faith,  our 
goodness — they  all  come  from  God.  God  gives 
them  to  bless  us  with  personal  happiness  and 
with  lasting  good.  We  should  use  these  gifts 
of  life  reverently  and  thankfully  and  within 
the  limits  imposed  by  his  divine  will. 

We  must  remember,  too,  that  God  gives 
these  good  and  perfect  gifts  to  us  that  through 
us  others  may  receive  his  blessings  also.  They 
are  not  for  our  selfish,  exclusive  use,  but  for 
the  good  of  all.  The  truth  we  learn,  the  means 
we  acquire,  the  powers  we  cultivate,  are  so 
many  opportunities  of  making  our  lives  use- 
ful. The  true  Christian  man  is  as  a  channel 
through  which  the  gifts  of  God  may  flow  to 
bless  a  dark  and  evil  world. 

Is  it  not  so  ?  Do  we  not  see  throug^li 
all  nature  an  unceasing  receiving  and 
giving  ?  The  clouds  borrow  water  from  the 
ocean,  but  (they  pour  it  forth  again  in  showers 
upon  the  thirsty  earth.  The  planets  borrow 
light  from^l^e  sun,  and  forthwith  they  scatter 
it,  on  e\^ry  /side,  in  the  dark  regions  of  space 
througt^  wluch  they  roll.  The  tree  receives 
moistlipeuiid  nutriment  from  the  soil  in  which 
it  is /Tooted  and  from  the  air  in  which  its 


134  THANKSGIVING  SEEMONS. 

branches  wave,  but  it  gives  it  all  back  in  its 
shadowing  leaves  and  in  its  golden  fruit  in  the 
abundant  autumn  days.  How  grand  a  day  it 
will  be  for  the  church  of  God  when  all  who 
profess  to  believe  this  great  truth  learn  to  be- 
lieve it  with  sincere  conviction,  and  to  act 
upon  it,  day  by  day,  in  their  words  and  deeds ! 
When  we  can  give  of  thought  and  sympathy 
and  substance,  as  Grod  has  given  to  us,  the 
work  of  Grod  will  soon  be  accomplished,  and 
the  kingdom  of  God  will  come. 

At  this  festival  let  us  try  to  begin,  if  we  have 
never  done  so  before.  Let  us  strive  to  realize 
the  divine  side  of  our  life.  Let  us  face  the 
fact  that, all  gifts  are  God's  gifts,  and  not  flinch 
from  any  of  its  consequences.  Offer,  with 
bended  knee  and  humble  heart,  a  true  wor- 
ship. Offer,  of  what  has  been  given  to  you,  a 
loving,  a  Christian  gift  to  the  treasury  of  God. 


THE  HAEVEST  AND  ITS  LESSONS. 

BY  THE  REV.  J.  S.  PAWLYN. 

''  Hear  now  this,  O  foolish  people,  and  without  understand- 
ing :  .  .  .  Will  ye  not  tremble  at  my  presence,  which  have 
placed  the  sand  for  the  bound  of  the  sea  by  a  perpetual 
decree  ?  .  .  .  He  reserveth  unto  us  the  appointed  weeks  of  the 
harvest."— Jer.  v.  21-24. 

The  primary  truth  to  which  our  attention 
is  directed  by  our  text  is  God^s  government 
in  nature;  the  existence  of  an  ever-present,  all- 
gracious,  and  omnipotent  Providence. 

The  first  proof  of  God's  government  in 
nature  to  which  the  propliet  points  us  is 
the  subjection  of  the  sea.  "  Fear  ye  not 
me,"  etc.  (verse  22).  God  "  hath  shut  up  the 
sea  with  doors";  "He  hath  compassed  the 
waters  with  bounds,  until  the  day  and  night 
come  to  an  end  "  ;  "  He  holdeth  the  waters  in 
the  hollow  of  his  hand."  Once,  in  human 
form,  the  Creator  walked  upon  the  sea's  deliri- 
ous waters,  and  by  his  mandate  hushed  their 
madness  into  sleep ;  and  it  is  that  same  un- 
failing power  which  still  controls  the  ocean. 

135 


136  THANKSGIVING  SERMONS. 

"Hitherto  slialt  thou  come,  but  no  further: 
and  here  shall  thy  proud  waves  be  stayed." 
(Job  xxxviii.  11.) 

The  next  proof  of  God's  g^overnment  in 
nature  to  which  tlie  ijropliet  points  us  is 
the  fall  of  the  rain.  "  The  Lord  our  God 
giveth  rain,"  etc.  (verse  24).  Rain,  whether  it 
comes  down  at  regular  intervals,  as  in  Eastern 
lands,  or  irregularly,  as  in  our  more  changeful 
clime,  is  ever  the  gracious  gift  of  God :  "  He 
giveth  rain  upon  the  earth,  and  sendeth  waters 
upon  the  fields."  With  a  recognition  of  the 
hand  of  God  in  the  operations  of  nature 
which  rebukes  modern  materialism,  the  pro- 
phet points  the  faithless  people  to  the  rainfall 
as  a  crowning  proof  of  the  power  of  Jehovah 
in  contrast  to  the  powerlessness  of  the  heathen 
idols :  "  Are  there  any  among  the  vanities  of 
the  heathen  that  can  cause  rain?  or  can  the 
heavens  give  showers?  Art  not  thou  he,  O 
Lord  our  God?  therefore  we  will  wait  upon 
thee:  for  thou  hast  made  all  these  things" 
(xiv.  22).  The  clouds,  how  light,  fleecy,  aerial 
they  look!  Yes;  but  science  says  that  the 
dynamic  force  needed  to  lift  the  clouds  is 
two  hundred  thousand  times  greater  than  the 
united  strength  of  all  the  peoples  of  the  earth. 
How  suggestive  this  of  the  omnipotence  of 
God !     A  drop  of  rain,  how  small  and  feeble  it 


THE  HARVEST  AND  ITS  LESSONS.     137 

appears !  Yes ;  bnt  Maury,  in  his  "  Physical 
Geography  of  the  Sea,"  says  that  a  fall  of  rain 
one  inch  deep  over  one  fifth  of  the  Atlantic — a 
depth  that  might  fall  in  a  day  or  even  in 
an  hour — weighs  no  less  than  three  hundred 
and  sixty  thousand  millions  of  tons.  How 
immense  those  reservoirs  which  God  hath 
fixed  above  the  firmament!  All  the  moun- 
tain springs,  all  the  babbling  brooks,  all  the 
inland  lakes,  all  the  slowly  rolling  rivers — 
rivers  like  the  Mississippi  and  Amazon,  whose 
vast  volume  of  water  is  immeasurable — de- 
scend from  the  clouds  of  heaven ;  and  ere  they 
descend,  remember,  all  ascend — ascend,  as  it 
were,  in  a  glorified  condition,  leaving  ocean's 
salt  and  earth's  impurity  behind ;  ascend  gen- 
tly as  the  aroma  of  summer  roses,  silently  as 
the  upward  beating  of  a  heaven-bound  angel's 
wing. 

A  third  proof  of  God's  government  in  na- 
ture to  which  the  prophet  directs  us — and  this 
we  shall  consider  more  at  length — is  the  re- 
turn, year  by  year,  of  "the  appointed 
weeks  of  harvest."  Had  we  been  present 
with  the  multitude  who,  eighteen  hundred 
years  ago,  saw  the  loaves  so  marvelously  mul- 
tiply in  the  hands  of  Christ ;  had  we  shared  in 
that  evening  meal  near  the  shores  of  the  Sea 
of  Galilee,  what  wonder  we  should  have  felt, 


138  THANKSGIVING   SERMONS. 

with  what  reverence  we  should  have  said, 
"Verily,  this  is  wrought  by  the  power  of  a 
present  God"!  O  my  brethren,  by  slower 
processes,  but  with  incalculably  more  magnifi- 
cent results,  that  miracle,  in  the  recurrence 
of  the  harvest,  is  repeated  year  by  year.  God 
opens  his  hand  and  fills  the  granaries  of  the 
world  with  bread. 

The  ancient  pagan  nations  regarded  corn — 
using  the  word  in  its  generic  sense  as  includ- 
ing wheat,  barley,  oats,  maize,  and  rice — as  the 
special  gift  of  the  gods  to  the  sons  and  daugh- 
ters of  men.  The  Egyptians  ascribed  the  gift 
to  Isis ;  hence  they  represented  her  as  holding 
the  earth  in  one  hand  and  an  urn  of  corn  in 
the  other.  The  Romans  traced  it  to  Ceres, 
and  from  this  old-world  idea  we  derive  the 
word  cereal^  by  which  commercially  we  desig- 
nate all  forms  of  corn.  We  assume  that  corn 
has  not  and  cannot  be  evolved — an  assumption 
borne  out  by  the  fact  that  a  corn-field  left  to 
itself  will  become  less  and  less  in  its  annual 
yield,  until  it  ceases  to  yield  at  all,  but  the 
corn  thereof  will  never,  like  other  plants,  re- 
turn to  an  original  type,  it  will  never  degener- 
ate into  grainless  grasses.  The  most  advanced 
agricultural  science  can  never  make  corn  any- 
thing different  from  what  it  is.  The  corn  of 
to-day  is  identical  in  nature  with  the  corn 


THE  HAEVEST  AND  ITS  LESSONS.     139 

which  the  disciples  when  hungry  rubbed  in 
their  hands  and  ate,  which  Ruth  gleaned  in 
the  fields  of  Boaz,  which  Gideon  thrashed  by 
the  wine-press  of  Ophrah,  which  Joseph  stored 
in  the  cities  of  Pharaoh — yea,  which  God  him- 
self gave  to  Adam  when  he  sent  him  forth  from 
Eden  to  plow  and  sow  and  reap  the  virgin  soil. 
I  hold  in  my  hand  an  ear  of  wheat.  It  has 
been  said  that  every  blade  of  grass  is  a  ser- 
mon; then,  surely,  this  ear  is  an  oration — an 
oration  on  the  wisdom,  power,  and  benevo- 
lence of  God.  How  graceful  is  its  form! 
How  carefully  infolded  its  precious  grains! 
How  mysterious  was  its  growth !  A  seed  fell 
from  the  sower's  hand.  Ere  long  in  the  dark- 
ness of  the  earth,  in  the  very  heart  of  that 
seemingly  dead  and  decomposing  seed,  there 
were  the  stirrings  of  a  resurrection  life.  Two 
tiny  fibers  sprouted,  and  with  no  hand  near 
but  the  unseen  hand  of  God  the  seed  so  turned 
and  adjusted  itself  to  its  environment  that  one 
fiber  shot  downward  to  form  the  root,  and  one 
upward  toward  the  daylight  to  form  the  stalk 
and  ear.  It  grew — grew  according  to  a  fixed, 
unalterable  pattern — grew  by  attracting  to 
itself  suitable  elements  of  the  atmosphere  and 
earth,  changing  them  into  its  own  nature,  and 
appropriating  them  to  its  several  parts.  The 
blade  appeared  above  the  earth,  it  drank  the 


140  THANKSGIVING  SEKMONS. 

sunsliine  and  the  shower,  it  opened  its  leafy 
sheath,  and  lo !  the  unfilled  ear.  The  grains 
formed,  the  ear  hardened,  the  field  was  ripe 
for  the  harvest — behold,  the  wondrous  work 
was  done !  Such  was  the  history  of  a  single 
ear ;  and  could  we  fully  grasp  the  marvelous 
mystery  of  its  growth,  could  we  have  watched 
with  a  powerful  microscope  the  various  pro- 
cesses through  which  it  passed,  from  its  in- 
cipient life  in  the  dark  damp  soil  to  the  hour 
of  its  ingathering,  we  should  have  seen  there- 
in chemical  and  mechanical  triumphs  equal 
to,  nay,  vastly  superior  to,  the  loftiest  labors 
ever  wrought  by  man.  And  let  us  not  forget 
that  this  ear  whose  history  we  have  traced  is 
but  one  among  countless  millions  which  have 
just  carpeted  the  earth  with  a  cloth  of  gold. 
Oh,  how  good  is  our  Heavenly  Father,  how 
bountiful  his  hand !  The  land  has  yielded  her 
increase,  the  valleys  have  been  covered  with 
corn,  the  old  store  hath  not  been  eaten  ere  the 
new  store  hath  been  poured  at  our  feet ;  there 
is  abundance  of  bread  for  all.  But  remember 
our  crops  might  have  failed  in  the  furrows, 
our  fields  might  have  yielded  no  food,  wailing 
might  have  been  heard  in  our  streets,  while 
gaunt  famine  approached  apace.  Oh,  God  is 
Governor  over  all,  and  did  he  so  will  could  as 
easily  blast  the  produce  of  all  the  earth  as  the 


THE   HARVEST  AND  ITS  LESSONS.  141 

produce  of  a  single  field.  Well  has  it  been  said 
that  as  we  approach  the  season  of  harvest  we 
are  within  a  month  or  two  of  absolute  starva- 
tion. The  barrel  of  meal  is  nearly  exhausted, 
and  no  new  supply  can  be  obtained  except 
from  the  fields  that  are  slowly  ripening  under 
the  smiling  heavens.  Were  the  winds  per- 
mitted to  thrash  these  fields,  or  the  mildew  to 
blight  them,  or  the  caterpillar  to  devour  them, 
or  the  drought  or  the  rain  to  prevent  the  ear 
from  filling  and  ripening,  not  all  the  industry 
of  the  poor,  and  not  all  the  riches  of  the  rich, 
would  avail  to  avert  the  most  terrible  catas- 
trophe. But  God  has  been  ever  mindful  of  his 
covenant.  Save  in  limited  areas,  sometimes 
in  our  own,  sometimes  in  other  lands,  the  har- 
vest has  never  failed,  and  the  harvest  never 
shall,  for  God  hath  spoken  it:  "And  Noah 
builded  an  altar :  and  the  Lord  smelled  a  sweet 
savor ;  and  the  Lord  said,  I  will  not  again  curse 
the  ground  any  more  for  man's  sake.  .  .  .  While 
the  earth  remaineth,  seed-time  and  harvest, 
and  cold  and  heat,  and  summer  and  winter, 
and  day  and  night  shall  not  cease."  (Gen.  viii. 
21,  22.) 

This  great  truth  of  God's  government 
in  nature  is  often  unrecognized  or  im- 
piously denied.  "Hear  now  this,  0  fool- 
ish people,  and  without  understanding;  who 


l-i2  THANKSGI\^NG   SEKMONS. 

have  eyes,  and  see  not ;  who  have  ears,  and 
hear  not :  fear  ye  not  me  1 "  etc. 

Such  was  the  solemn  charge  brought  against 
Grod's  ancient  people  Israel.  Sin  had  morally 
blinded  them ;  unfaithfulness  to  their  high  re- 
ligious privileges  had  made  them  indifferent 
alike  to  the  mightiest  and  most  merciful  man- 
ifestations of  the  Divine  Maker  in  their  midst. 
Once  as  they  walked  through  their  ripening 
corn-fields  they  had  chanted  David's  grand 
harvest  canticle :  "  Thou  crownest  the  year 
with  thy  goodness.  The  pastures  are  clothed 
with  flocks ;  the  valleys  are  covered  with  corn ;" 
now  they  could  lead  forth  their  harvesters  and 
ingather  the  golden  grain  without  one  song  of 
praise,  one  votive  gift  upon  God's  high  altar 
laid.  And  this  was  but  one  of  many  sadden- 
ing proofs  of  how  completely  they  had  become 
estranged  from  heaven,  how  entirely  enthralled 
by  Satan  and  by  sin.  Very  sad,  very  humiliat- 
ing, is  the  revelation  made  in  the  chapter  now 
before  us  of  Israel's  moral  delinquencies  as 
well  as  religious  unfaithfulness.  In  all  the 
streets  of  Jerusalem,  under  the  most  careful 
scrutiny,  could  not  be  found  a  man — a  man 
according  to  the  divine  ideal,  a  man  who 
sought  truth  and  executed  righteousness  and 
delighted  himself  in  Grod.  Can  we  wonder  at 
the  divine  denunciation :  "  Shall  I  not  visit  for 


THE   HAEVEST   AND   ITS   LESSONS.  14:6 

these  things  ?  saith  the  Lord :  and  shall  not  my 
soul  be  avenged  on  such  a  nation  as  this!" 
Can  we  wonder  that  the  mandate  went  forth 
to  the  invading  Babylonians :  "  Gro  ye  up  upon 
her  walls,  and  destroy :  take  away  her  battle- 
ments ;  for  they  are  not  the  Lord's  "  I  (Jer.  v. 
9,  10.) 

We  would  not  be  numbered  among  those 
who  are  ever  uttering  Cassandra-like  lamenta- 
tions over  our  own  beloved  land.  For  fidelity 
to  God  and  truth  ours  is  second  to  no  great 
nation  under  heaven.  And  yet  we  cannot 
contemplate,  on  the  one  hand,  our  peerless 
privileges,  and,  on  the  other,  the  moral  and 
religious  condition  of  our  country,  without 
humbly  acknowledging  how  closely  we  have 
followed  in  ancient  Israel's  steps.  Material- 
ism abounds;  God's  existence  is  denied,  and 
blind  unconscious  forces  exalted  to  his  throne. 
Flowers  and  fruits  and  laughing  harvests  of 
golden  grain  are  looked  upon  as  the  inevitable 
outcome  of  the  "  order  of  nature  " — an  order 
which  had  no  beginning  and  shall  have  no  end. 
If  the  existence  of  a  personal  God  is  allowed 
he  is  considered  too  remotely  centered  to  exert 
any  influence  on  the  material  universe  or  to 
hear  his  creatures  cry.  Praise  to  the  weather ; 
praise  to  deep  draining  and  subsoil  plo^'ig 
and  artificial  manures;  praise  to  patent  ma- 


144  THANKSGIVING   SERMONS. 

chines  for  plowing  and  tilling  and  reaping  and 
binding  and  threshing — these,  when  the  crops 
are  plentiful,  are  the  cries  of  the  farm  and  the 
market-place,  rather  than  "  Praise  God,  from 
whom  all  blessings  flow."  We  are  not,  of 
course,  insensible  to  the  need  and  importance 
of  secondary  means;  we  hail  the  wonderful 
advancement  made  of  late  in  agricultural  sci- 
ence and  mechanical  appliances ;  but  we  should 
see  in  this  as  well  as  in  fruitful  seasons  the 
hand  of  God. 

And  are  we,  my  brethren,  free  from  those 
grosser  evils  which  the  prophet  here  de- 
nounces! Is  not  worldliness  paramount  in 
our  midst !  Is  not  honor  in  the  market-place 
often  held  dirt-cheap?  Is  not  drunkenness 
our  country's  curse  1  Vice — have  we  not  had 
public  revelations  enough  to  crimson  our 
cheeks  and  sink  us  into  the  lowest  depths  of 
shame  ?  God  has  given  to  us  a  bountiful  har- 
vest because  his  mercy  endureth  forever.  But 
had  not  his  goodness  been  limitless,  had  he  not 
remembered  his  covenant,  had  he  not  taken 
into  account  the  faithful  ones  who  wrestle  for 
their  ruined  race,  he  might  justly  have  said  of 
our  nation,  as  he  said  of  olden  Israel:  "Be- 
cause thou  hast  forgotten  the  God  of  thy  sal- 
vation, and  hast  not  been  mindful  of  the  Rock 
of  thy  strength,  the  harvest  shall  be  a  heap  in 
the  day  of  grief  and  of  desperate  sorrow.'-' 


THE  HAEVEST  AND  ITS  LESSONS.     145 

Brethren,  we  have  met  to  honor  God.  "We 
have  assembled  to  express  our  gratitude  for 
the  gracious  bounties  of  God's  providence. 
We  have  not,  I  trust,  come  empty-handed. 
The  Jews,  before  they  grew  ahenated  in  heart 
and  hfe,  brought,  with  songs  of  joy,  the  first- 
fruits  of  the  earth ;  they  heaped  their  choicest 
at  the  altar-foot.  The  poor  untutored  heathen, 
too,  hasten  to  lay  their  gifts  of  gratitude  before 
their  idol  gods.  Let  us  see  to  it  that  by  their 
example  we  do  not  stand  rebuked.  But  I  ask 
not  only  for  your  offering,  but  with  louder, 
more  persuasive  plea  I  ask  for  you.  No  offer- 
ing can  be  accepted  as  an  equivalent  for  per- 
sonal consecration.  When  one  who  had  been  at 
variance  with  Caesar  sent  him  a  crown  of  gold, 
Caesar  returned  it,  saying,  "I  cannot  accept 
his  present  until  he  gives  to  me  his  heart." 
So  says  Jesus,  the  King  of  kings,  to  all  who 
would  give  him  gold  and  silver  and  outward 
service,  but  refuse  to  give  themselves.  Look 
upon  that  devotee  of  the  early  world.  See,  he 
builds  an  altar;  he  dresses  it  with  graceful 
foliage  and  with  fragrant  flowers,  and  upon 
that  altar  lays  the  finest  and  fairest  of  the 
first-fruits  of  the  earth.  And  now,  prostrated 
before  it,  he  uplifts  his  earnest  prayer;  "O 
Infinite  Creator,  God  of  my  father  Adam,  I 
adore  thee !  I  worship  thee !  I  bless  thee 
for  thy  bounties !     Accept  my  grateful  gifts." 


146  THANKSGIVING   SEKMONS. 

And  what  was  the  result  1  Was  high  Heaven 
well  pleased  with  his  worship  ?  Listen :  "  Unto 
Cain  and  to  his  offering  Grod  had  not  respect." 
And  why  1  Because  Grod  saw  in  Cain's  heart 
cherished,  unrepented  sin ;  because  Grod  recog- 
nized in  his  offering  and  in  his  prayer  no  be- 
lief in,  no  setting  forth  of,  the  promised  Sacri- 
fice, Jesus  the  Saviour  of  the  world.  Breth- 
ren, I  pray  you  let  the  goodness  of  the  Lord 
in  sending  us  rain  and  sunshine  and  fruitful 
seasons  lead  you  to  repentance.  Let  the  fact, 
so  present  to  us  to-day,  that  the  Creator  has 
once  more  filled  the  earth  with  bread  for  the 
supply  of  man's  lower  needs,  lead  onward  to 
the  realization  that  "  man  cannot  live  by  bread 
alone  " ;  that  he  has  a  "  hungry  soul "  to  satisfy ; 
and  that  the  soul's  satisfaction  must  be  sought 
and  found  at  the  cross  of  Calvary.  Jesus  said, 
"  I  am  the  bread  of  life :  he  that  cometh  to  me 
shall  never  hunger ;  and  he  that  believeth  on 
me  shall  never  thirst."  (John  vi.  35.)  "  Lord, 
evermore  give  us  this  bread ! " 

"  We  thank  thee,  then,  O  Father, 

For  all  things  bright  and  good, 
The  seed-time  and  the  harvest. 

Our  life,  our  health,  our  food. 
Accept  the  gifts  we  offer 

For  all  thy  love  imparts. 
And,  what  thou  most  desirest. 

Our  humble,  thankful  hearts." 


THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  HARVEST. 

BY  THE  EEV.  G.  A.  BENNETTS,  B.A. 

"  Nevertheless  he  left  not  himself  without  witness,  in  that 
he  did  good,  and  gave  us  rain  from  heaven,  and  fruitful  sea- 
sons, filling  our  hearts  with  food  and  gladness." — ^Acts  xiv.  17. 

Nothing  is  more  worthy  of  note  in  St.  Paul's 
methods  than  the  care  which  he  always  took 
to  adapt  himself  to  the  varying  conditions  and 
characters  of  those  among  whom  he  labored. 
He  had  but  one  gospel  to  preach — the  gospel 
of  Christ  crucified ;  but  he  preached  that  gos- 
pel with  an  ever-varying  accent  and  with  great 
manifoldness  of  expression.  He  did  not  ab- 
ruptly obtrude  the  doctrine  of  the  cross  upon 
them ;  but,  beginning  at  some  point  where  he 
and  his  hearers  were  at  one,  in  a  chain  of  argu- 
ment and  appeal  he  gradually  and  almost  im- 
perceptibly led  them  up  to  the  doctrine  of 
Jesus  and  the  resurrection.  At  Athens  he 
found  his  text,  not  in  Jewish  lore,  but  in  the 
altars  of  their  gods,  and  in  that  literature  of 
which  every  Greek  was  lawfully  proud.  And 
here  at  Lystra,  among  the  barbarians  of  Lyc- 

147 


148  THANKSGIVING   SERMONS. 

aonia,  he  speaks  from  that  revelation  of  God 
whose  "  line  is  gone  out  through  all  the  earth, 
and  its  words  to  the  end  of  the  world." 

Let  us  not  suppose,  however,  that  the  wit- 
ness of  Grod's  works,  to  which  the  Apostle  ap- 
peals in  my  text,  is  of  importance  only  to  such 
people  as  those  of  Lystra.  There  is,  perhaps, 
a  danger  of  our  thinking  that  the  teachings  of 
natural  religion  have  been  superseded  by  those 
of  revelation.  This  is  a  great  mistake.  The 
Bible  always  speaks  of  itself  as  being  the  sup- 
plement to  that  revelation  of  himself  which 
God  has  made  in  his  works.  Natural  theology 
is  the  base  of  the  ladder  which  rests  upon  the 
earth,  while  the  top  of  it  is  in  heaven ;  and  the 
ladder  cannot  stand  without  its  base.  The 
truths  of  natural  religion  are  the  pediments  of 
the  glorious  columns  of  the  temple  of  our  wor- 
ship, columns  the  marvelously  carved  capitals 
of  which  are  in  revelation ;  and  those  columns 
can  never  afford  to  dispense  with  those  pedi- 
ments. Let  a  man  once  get  a  firm  hold  of  the 
fundamental  truths  revealed  in  nature,  and  let 
him  follow  up  with  his  hands  the  column  of 
truth  which  he  thus  touches  at  its  base,  and 
he  will  find,  when  he  enters  the  region  of  reve- 
lation, that  there  is  no  break  in  the  column ; 
that  he  cannot  even  feel  the  line  of  junction, 
but  that  revealed  truth  is  in  absolute  conti- 


THE  WITNESS   OF  THE  HARVEST.  149 

nuity  with  that  of  nature ;  that,  in  fact,  there 
are  not  two  systems  of  truth,  but  one,  the  base 
of  which  is  in  nature  and  the  summit  of  which 
is  in  grace. 

Nowhere  is  this  more  distinctly  set  forth 
than  in  the  teaching  of  our  blessed  Master 
himself.  He  directs  our  attention  to  the  lilies, 
the  mustard-seed,  the  tares,  and  the  harvest, 
as  being  divinely  ordained  preachers  of  the 
truths  of  religion.  Indeed,  never  was  there 
any  teacher  who  lived  in  such  intimate  com- 
munion with  nature  as  Jesus  of  Nazareth. 
He  holds  the  key  of  the  secret  chambers  in 
which  the  profoundest  mysteries  of  the  uni- 
verse are  hidden,  and  those  chambers  he  has 
unlocked  for  us,  teaching  us  to  find  the  sub- 
limest  lessons  of  his  kingdom  in  the  common- 
est objects  of  nature,  every  one  of  which  is 
stamped  with  the  sign  manual  of  our  Hea- 
venly Father. 

Our  text  is  one  sample  of  the  way  in  which 
this  great  master  of  the  art  of  adaptation,  the 
Apostle  Paul,  appealed  to  men,  upon  the  foun- 
dation of  the  truths  which  are  graven  by  the 
finger  of  God  upon  those  common  works  of 
nature  which  lie  open  to  every  man's  vision. 
Let  us,  under  his  guidance,  listen  to  the  har- 
vest witness  concerning  some  of  the  funda- 
mental truths  of  religion. 


150  THANKSGIVING  SEKMONS. 

1.  Observe  that  the  operations  of  na- 
ture through  which  God  provides  for  tlie 
creatures  bear  witness  to  his  existence, 
and  to  liis  continual  presence  and  activ- 
ity in  tlie  midst  of  his  works. 

(1)  I  know  that  it  is  fashionable  to  sneer  at 
the  design  argument  for  the  being  of  Grod. 
But  sneering  is  a  very  common  device  resorted 
to  by  men  who  have  no  argument  with  which 
to  sustain  their  cause.  I  will  not  say  that  the 
design  argument  has  always  been  wisely  pre- 
sented, and  that  the  method  of  its  presentation 
has  not  sometimes  laid  it  open  to  the  ridicule 
which  talks  about  its  representation  of  God  as 
a  great  Machinist  constructing  the  universe  as 
in  a  mechanic's  workshop.  But  these  are  de- 
fects in  the  presentation  of  the  argument,  and 
not  flaws  in  the  argument  itself.  In  spite  of 
all  the  sneers  of  our  critics  we  are  prepared  to 
maintain  that  the  argument  is  irrefragable; 
that  the  universe  exhibits  thought,  and  that 
thought  implies  a  Thinker ;  that  the  universe 
exhibits  uniformity  of  thought,  and  that  this 
uniformity  of  thought  implies  that  there  is  but 
one  Thinker,  whose  wisdom  has  laid  the  plans 
of  this  marvelous  world  in  which  we  dwell. 
All  clear  thinking  is  forever  at  an  end  if  the 
wondrous  and  complicated  adaptations  of  na- 
ture are  to  be  supposed  to  have  come  into 


THE  WITNESS   OF  THE  HAKVEST.  151 

existence  without  an  Adapter ;  if  endless  har- 
monies, existing  in  the  midst  of  an  almost  in- 
finite complication  of  circumstances,  in  which 
current  crosses  current  and  force  crosses  force 
to  a  degree  passing  conception,  are  maintained 
with  a  uniformity  which  enables  the  astron- 
omer to  predict  his  eclipses  with  the  minutest 
accuracy,  and  the  farmer  to  anticipate  his  har- 
vests with  tolerable  certainty,  without  there 
being  a  Harmonizer  to  produce  the  harmony. 
Let  a  man  stand  in  the  midst  of  the  whirl  of 
forces  around  him,  and  let  him  listen  to  the 
perfect  harmony  of  their  music ;  and  then  let 
him  say  if  this  wonderful  symphony  of  many- 
toned  instruments  could  have  been  produced 
unless  a  Divine  Composer  had  set  the  piece 
which  they  so  gloriously  perform.  No,  the 
man  is  without  excuse  who  can  look  at  this 
masterpiece  of  thought  and  say,  "  There  is  no 
Thinker  behind  it  all." 

(2)  For  a  moment  let  us  single  out  from  the 
midst  of  the  manifold  operations  of  nature 
those  to  which  the  Apostle  particularly  refers 
in  my  text;  that  is  to  say,  those  connected 
with  the  supply  of  food  for  the  creatures. 
When  we  consider  that  the  seasons  of  our 
climate,  with  all  their  manifold  effects,  are 
produced  by  an  inclination  of  the  axis  of  the 
earth  at  an  angle  of  23 J °  to  the  plane  of  its 


152  THANKSGIVING  SERMONS. 

orbit,  and  when  we  consider  what  would  fol- 
low if  there  were  no  snch  inclination  or  were 
that  inclination  varied  through  ever  so  small 
an  angle,  we  cannot  but  feel  that  there  must 
have  been  a  Designer  who  gave  the  earth  the 
exact  tilt  necessary  to  the  production  of  its 
harvests.  When  we  consider  that,  in  the  pro- 
duction of  every  blade  of  corn  and  of  every 
apple  upon  the  tree,  there  is  a  nice  mathemati- 
cal balancing  of  the  forces  of  gravitation  and 
life,  in  order  that  the  vital  force  may  be  able 
to  overcome  the  force  of  gravitation  and  shoot 
forth  the  corn-stalk  or  the  tree  to  the  proper 
height  necessary  for  its  fruit-bearing,  we  can- 
not but  believe  that  there  must  have  been  a 
great  Mathematician  who  made  these  delicate 
adjustments.  When  we  look  at  the  marvelous 
machinery  by  which  all  this  vegetable  life  takes 
up  and  appropriates  to  itself  the  fructifying 
properties  of  the  soil  beneath  it,  of  the  air 
around  it,  of  the  clouds  above  it,  and  of  the 
sun  which  is  millions  of  miles  away  from  it, 
we  are  bound  to  confess  that  this  machinery 
must  have  had  a  Constructor  to  make  it.  The 
Apostle  mentions  rain,  and  well  he  may,  for 
the  laboratory  in  which  Grod  prepares  his  rain 
is  well  worthy  of  our  inspection.  Consider 
the  mighty  force  which  the  sun  exerts  as  he 
lifts  the  waters  up  into  the  clouds;  see  how 


THE  WITNESS   OF  THE   HAEVEST.  153 

by  the  air-cnrrents  God  carries  the  fruit-bear- 
ing showers  from  one  region  to  another ;  look 
into  the  processes  of  rarefaction  and  conden- 
sation by  which  he  prepares  the  golden  drops 
to  distil  fatness  upon  the  earth,  and  then  an- 
swer the  question  which  God  put  to  Job: 
"  Hath  the  rain  a  father  I  or  who  hath  begot- 
ten the  drops  of  dew  1  Out  of  whose  womb 
came  the  ice  I  and  the  hoary  frost  of  heaven, 
who  hath  gendered  it  ? "     (Job  xxxviii.  28,  29.) 

(3)  "Ah,  but,"  says  the  modern  objector, 
"  this  is  all  done  in  obedience  to  law !  "  Ex- 
actly ;  that  is  our  point.  It  is  all  done  in  obe- 
dience to  law.  And  law  means  order.  And 
order  means  thought.  And  thought  means  a 
Thinker.  Alas  that  men  should  so  cheat  them- 
selves with  words !  They  say,  "  It  is  law,"  and 
think  they  have  got  rid  of  God ;  whereas  to 
clear  thinking  law  is  the  evidence  of  God's  pres- 
ence, and  not  the  negation  of  it.  The  fact 
that  the  whole  world  is  under  the  sway  of  law 
is  a  proof  that  it  has  been  created  by  a  De- 
signer and  is  not  the  evolution  of  chance. 

(4)  "  Well,  but,"  says  the  objector  again,  "  it 
may  be  that  God  must  have  been  there  to  give 
the  laws,  but  when  he  had  given  them  he  left 
the  universe  to  their  sway,  and  now  it  is  vain 
to  seek  for  God  in  a  world  which  he  has  given 
over  to  the  control  of  law."    Again  we  ask, 


154  THANKSGIVING   SEEMONS. 

"  What  is  the  use  of  laws  without  an  execu- 
tor to  administer  them!"  He  who  made  the 
worlds  upholds  them  by  the  word  of  his  power. 
He  himself  administers  the  laws  which  he  has 
given.  God  not  only  was  in  nature,  he  is  in 
it.  The  man  who  seeks  for  miracles  to  de- 
monstrate the  presence  of  God  will  find  them, 
if  he  will  but  look,  in  every  blade  of  grass  and 
in  every  grain  of  corn.  Our  heaping  granaries 
speak  the  praises  of  Jehovah,  and  proclaim 
that  he  who  transformed  the  water  into  wine 
at  Cana,  and  who  multiplied  the  scanty  meal 
into  a  feast  for  a  multitude,  is  still  at  work  in 
the  manifold  operations  of  nature. 

(5)  In  our  stupidity,  when  the  stupendous  is 
often  repeated  before  our  eyes  we  forget  its 
wondrousness,  and  the  very  regularity  and 
profusion  with  which  God's  mercies  are  be- 
stowed seem  to  deaden  our  sense  of  obliga- 
tion. We  shall  be,  indeed,  without  excuse  if 
we  fail  to  learn  the  lessons  of  Nature,  for  the 
age  in  which  we  live  is  one  in  which  her  secrets 
are  being  learned  as  never  before.  The  reve- 
lations of  the  spectroscope,  microscope,  and 
telescope  only  increase  the  wondrousness  of 
God's  universe,  and  he  who  regards  science  as 
the  foe  of  religion  does  not  know  what  science 
is.  I  wish  I  could  awaken,  especially  in  the 
hearts  of  the  young  here,  a  passion  for  the 


THE  WITNESS   OF  THE  HARVEST.  155 

devout  study  of  God's  works.  Let  me  beg 
you  to  endeavor  to  ascertain  as  much  as  you 
can  about  that  wonderful  revelation  of  God 
which  modern  science  has  unveiled  in  the 
world  about  you.  Avoid  the  theories  of  athe- 
istic scientists,  but  receive  with  gratitude  every 
new  discovery  of  a  fact  or  principle,  and  you 
will  find  in  nature  the  best  aid  to  devotion  and 
the  best  expositor  of  the  Bible. 

2,  Our  text  bids  us  see  in  the  fruitful 
seasons  a  proof  of  God's  goodness  toward 
men. 

In  spite  of  all  the  sorrow  and  discord  of  hu- 
man life,  the  Apostle  declares  that,  even  apart 
from  revelation,  there  is  in  the  bounteous  pro- 
vision of  God's  providence  abundant  proof  of 
his  goodness  toward  men.  Notwithstanding 
men's  wickedness,  he  makes,  age  after  age, 
provision  for  their  wants.  Our  Lord  has  bid- 
den us  learn  the  lesson  of  mercy  from  the  ex- 
ample of  our  Heavenly  Father,  who  makes  "his 
sun  to  rise  on  the  evil  and  on  the  good,  and 
sendeth  rain  on  the  just  and  on  the  unjust." 
(Matt.  V.  45.)  Nothing  shows  the  hardness  of 
men's  hearts  much  more  than  the  way  in  which 
they  partake  of  the  bounties  of  God's  provi- 
dence, without  any  grateful  recognition  of  the 
Giver.  In  the  last  analysis  we  shall  find  that 
all  our  wealth  depends  upon  the  land,  and 


156  THANKSGIVING  SERMONS. 

that  every  man's  livelihood  really  rests  upon 
the  products  of  the  soil.  "We  ought,  therefore, 
to  bestir  ourselves  to  return  thanks  to  God  for 
his  great  goodness  to  us  during  the  present 
year.  Paul  declares  in  my  text  that  an  unen- 
lightened heathen  ought  to  hear  the  harvest 
witness  to  God's  goodness.  How  much  more, 
then,  ought  we,  who  have  the  light  of  revela- 
tion, to  acknowledge  his  hand  in  the  bounty 
of  his  gifts !  How  careful  should  we  be  not 
to  squander  these  blessings  in  the  service  of 
our  lusts !  The  Bible  reveals  to  us  the  fact 
that  God  has  again  and  again  sent  famine 
upon  nations  because  in  times  of  plenty  they 
have  forgotten  him.  Let  us,  then,  now  that 
he  has  smiled  upon  us,  not  abuse  his  gifts,  but 
let  us  show  our  gratitude  by  endeavoring  to 
please  our  Father,  who  has  filled  our  garners 
and  made  our  fields  to  teem  with  plenty. 
These  gifts  of  God  proclaim  how  lovingly  he 
provides  for  our  happiness.  He  might  have 
made  our  food  unpleasant  and  insipid.  In- 
stead of  that  he  has  associated  much  pleasure 
even  with  the  lowest  actions  of  our  life,  to  be 
a  symbol  to  us  of  his  good- will  respecting  us 
in  all  things.  We  condemn  the  ingratitude  of 
those  who  disregard  the  kindness  of  an  earthly 
benefactor.  How  much  baser  is  our  conduct 
if  we  do  not  offer  praise  to  him  from  whom 


THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  HAKVEST.  157 

Cometh  down  every  good  and  perfect  gift! 
Ungodly  man,  let  God's  mercies  awaken  thee 
to  a  sense  of  thy  guilt,  and  let  gratitude  to 
him,  because  he  has  not  visited  thee  with  the 
ruin  due  to  thy  sins,  constrain  thee  to  offer 
the  only  harvest  thanksgiving  which  God  will 
accept :  forsake  thy  sins,  and  show  praise  to 
him  by  turning  to  his  Christ,  that  through  his 
Spirit  thou  mayest  find  strength  for  that  holi- 
ness without  which  all  praise  is  as  mockery  in 
his  sight ! 

3.  The  harvest  witness,  though  valu- 
able, is,  after  all,  very  imperfect. 

Though  the  Apostle  is  ready  to  acknowledge 
the  value  of  natural  theology,  and  declares  that 
it  is  inexcusable  for  men  not  to  learn  much 
about  God  from  its  teachings,  nevertheless  he 
notes  with  a  strong  emphasis  its  imperfect- 
ness,  and  speaks  of  the  period  during  which 
the  greater  part  of  the  world  was  shut  up  to 
its  teachings  as  "  the  times  of  this  ignorance." 
We  have  reason  to  bless  God  that  we  have  a 
fuller  revelation,  by  means  of  which  we  are  led 
out  of  the  dim  twilight  of  natural  religion  into 
the  meridian  splendor  of  gospel  day.  This 
revelation  in  which  we  rejoice  has  not  only 
disclosed  to  us  new  truth,  but  has  thrown  a 
new  light  upon  the  old  truths.  The  witness 
of  God's  works  is  clearer  and  more  blessed  to 


158  THANKSGIVING  SEEMONS. 

the  man  who  has  received  the  witness  of  his 
Son.  To  such  a  man  the  glory  of  creation  is 
the  glory  of  the  Eternal  Word  by  whom  "  all 
things  were  made,"  and  without  whom  "  was 
not  anything  made  that  was  made."  To  the 
eyes  of  faith  the  daily  bread  is  the  symbol  of 
him  who  is  the  true  bread  which  came  down 
from  heaven ;  and  the  goodness  which  is  dis- 
played in  a  bountiful  harvest  is  a  gracious 
provision  of  a  loving  Father  who  did  not 
spare  even  his  own  Son  that  he  might  bless 
"  his  favorite  creature,  man."  The  doctrines  of 
revealed  religion  are  not  only  based  upon  those 
of  natural  theology,  but  they  reflect  a  new  glory 
back  upon  them.  May  we  be  so  taught  to  un- 
derstand the  earthly  witness  as  to  see  in  it  the 
dawn  of  that  manifestation  of  God  which  is 
clearly  made  in  the  triune  witness  of  the 
Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  to  whom,  as 
the  Three-One  Redeemer  of  men,  the  Bounti- 
ful Donor  not  only  of  the  bread  of  our  bodies 
but  of  the  bread  of  eternal  life,  we  ascribe  all 
honor  and  glory,  world  without  end.    Amen. 


UNTO  aOD  THANKSaiVINa. 

BY  THE  REV.  J.  H.  C.  McKINNEY. 
''Offer  unto  God  thanksgiving."— Ps.  xxx.  14. 

It  has  occurred  to  me  that  it  would  not  be 
inappropriate  on  this  Thanksgiving  occasion 
to  present  for  our  meditation  a  few  things 
for  which  we,  as  American  citizens,  should  be 
thankful : 

1.  The  faith  of  Columbus.  To  this  child 
of  Providence  "faith  was  the  substance  of 
things  hoped  for,  and  the  evidence  of  things 
not  seen."  By  faith  he  went  out  seeking  a 
country,  not  knowing  whither  he  went.  It 
was  the  mainspring  which  inspired  all  his 
movements,  enabling  him  to  surmount  the 
obstacles  at  home  and  the  difficulties  arising 
in  his  voyage  in  his  search  of  the  hoped-for 
New  World.  Doubtless  this  faith  was  inspired 
by  the  same  great  Spirit  who  moved  Abraham 
to  seek  a  country. 

Looking  at  our  America  to-day,  crowned 
with  the  blessings  which  have  come  to  us 

159 


160  THANKSGIVING   SEEMONS. 

since  that  day,  onr  hearts  swell  with  gratitude 
to  oiir  Heavenly  Father  for  that  faith  which 
brought  Columbus  to  these  shores. 

2.  The  care  of  the  Indians.  The  benefi- 
cent attention  which  our  government  is  be- 
stowing upon  the  original  inhabitants  of  this 
continent  is  a  cause  for  thanksgiving.  A  su- 
perficial view  might  impress  one  with  a  seem- 
ing injustice  in  assuming  possession  of  the 
lands  occupied  by  the  aborigines;  but  when 
we  investigate  the  subject  more  thoroughly 
we  can  see  the  hand  of  Providence  in  it.  The 
Indians  would — perhaps  could — never  have 
made  of  this  fair  land  what  the  Anglo-Ameri- 
cans have.  The  spirit  of  Christianity  so  in- 
fluences our  government  that  it  not  only  pays 
them  for  the  lands  used  by  our  people,  but 
furnishes  them  with  many  of  the  necessaries 
of  life  on  their  reservations,  besides  establish- 
ing and  maintaining  schools  for  their  educa- 
tion and  opening  the  way  for  churches  to 
supply  them  with  the  gospel.  Had  not  this 
continent  been  discovered  by  Columbus  or 
some  other  person,  and  regenerated  by  the 
energies  of  Christian  civilization,  what  would 
be  its  condition  to-day  ? 

3.  Benevolent  institutions.  We  should 
thank  Grod  for  the  establishment  and  mainte- 
nance of  homes  for  our  own  unfortunate  citi- 


UNTO   GOD   THANKSGIVING.  161 

zens.  The  orphan  homes,  the  country  homes, 
the  homes  for  the  bHnd,  the  insane,  and  the 
deaf  and  dumb,  are  fruits  of  Christianity.  In- 
stead of  a  blush  of  shame  coming  to  the  face 
of  those  who  attend  these  homes,  and  instead 
of  attaching  in  our  thoughts  or  words  a  taint 
of  disgrace  to  any  such,  these  institutions 
should  be  regarded  as  public  benefactions, 
and  a  necessary  stay  in  them  as  an  honorable 
privilege. 

Many  a  good  man  is  overtaken  in  life's  pil- 
grimage by  misfortune,  and  in  old  age  has  no 
home  and  no  loved  ones  able  to  furnish  him 
one.  It  certainly  is  a  source  of  thankfulness 
to  God,  who  has  provided  so  many  comfort- 
able homes  by  the  operation  of  his  providence 
through  the  machinery  of  human  government 
for  all  such. 

4,  Our  free  schools.  Every  loyal  Amer- 
ican heart  beats  in  harmony  with  the  tributes 
of  praise  ascending  to  God  for  the  network 
of  our  free-school  system,  by  which  aU  our 
children  can  be  educated.  It  is  a  sad  reflec- 
tion that  through  the  neglect  of  parents  and 
guardians  many  children  fail  to  receive  the 
educational  advantages  provided  for  them  by 
the  state.  A  compulsory  law  which  would  re- 
quire the  attendance  of  children  at  school 
would  be  as  reasonable  and  just  as  the  one 


162  THANKSGIVING   SEEMONS. 

wMch  compels  citizens  to  pay  taxes  to  sup- 
port the  schools.  "  Knowledge  is  power  " — for 
evil  as  well  as  good.  An  educated  man  with 
a  vicious  heart  can  do  more  harm  than  if  he 
were  ignorant.  It  is  therefore  essential  that 
the  moral  and  spiritual  nature  be  purified  and 
disciplined  as  well  as  the  intellectual.  Herein 
is  a  good  reason  for  the  introduction  of  the 
Holy  Bible  into  our  public  schools.  It  causes 
emotions  of  gratitude  to  arise  to  the  Giver  of 
every  good  and  perfect  gift  to  know  that  he 
has  provided  a  way  whereby  our  people  may 
be  regenerated  and  thus  brought  into  a  new 
life  which  will  fit  them  for  good  citizenship  in 
America  and  in  heaven  as  weU. 

Never  will  our  schools  attain  to  what  they 
should  be  until  arrangements  are  made  for  the 
proper  training  of  the  physical  and  spiritual 
as  well  as  the  mental  nature  of  our  children. 

5.  Religious  liberty.  We  are  thankful 
that  all  our  people  can  worship  God  accord- 
ing to  the  dictates  of  their  own  conscience, 
none  daring  to  molest  or  make  them  afraid. 
The  devil  of  persecution  and  disturbance  is 
bound  by  the  strong  chain  of  the  law.  All 
congregations,  large  or  small,  assembled  for 
worship,  are  protected  by  our  laws  against 
disturbers.  We  are  also  glad  that  our  laws, 
which  protect  true  worshipers,  likewise  pro- 


UNTO   GOD  THANKSGIVING.  Ibd 

vide  for  the  punisliment  of  those  who,  in  the 
name  of  religion,  transgress  the  laws  of  both 
God  and  man.  Every  true  lover  of  the  home, 
which  is  one  of  the  safeguards  of  our  nation, 
rejoices  that  the  two-edged  sword  of  the  law 
has  cut  the  carbuncle  of  Mormonism  from  the 
American  body. 

Closely  connected  with  religious  liberty  is 
the  American  Sabbath.  A  blow  at  this  is  a 
stroke  at  that.  Those  who  from  other  nations 
become  American  citizens  should  remember 
the  Sabbath  day  to  keep  it  holy,  and  not  be 
allowed  to  introduce  among  our  people  their 
loose  ideas  and  customs  respecting  this  sacred 
day.  God's  plan  of  one  day  of  rest  after  six 
of  work  is  a  wise  one.  Man  needs  it  physi- 
cally, mentally,  and  spiritually.  It  would  be 
much  to  the  advantage  of  our  people  every 
way  if  all  individuals  and  corporations  would 
strictly  observe  this  reasonable  arrangement 
of  God  and*man.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that 
some  among  us  desecrate  the  holy  Sabbath  by 
transacting  business  and  indulging  in  worldly 
pleasures  on  the  Lord's  day.  For  this  day  of 
rest  and  recuperation  we  devoutly  thank  God. 

6.  Civil  liberty.  We  are  thankful  to-day 
for  the  privilege  of  suffrage  enjoyed  by  our 
male  citizens ;  but  the  ardor  of  this  gratitude 
is  dampened  by  the  injustice  which  excludes 


164  THANKSGIVING  SEKMONS. 

from  tlie  franchise  our  female  citizens,  many 
of  whom  could  vote  just  as  intelligently  as  we, 
and  in  some  cases  much  more  judiciously. 

We  are  glad  that  the  wings  of  the  American 
eagle  are  outstretched  to  welcome  to  our  shores 
those  who  will  become  good  and  loyal  citizens ; 
but  the  time  is  at  hand  when  our  emigration 
laws  should  be  so  amended  as  to  exclude  the 
vicious  classes  from  other  countries.  I  quote 
the  following  from  one  of  our  metropolitan 
dailies : 

"It  is  an  anomaly  in  our  system,  if  not  a 
disgrace,  that  persons  of  foreign  birth  can  vote 
here  four  years  before  they  are  citizens.  A 
foreigner  cannot  become  a  naturalized  citizen 
of  the  country  until  he  has  resided  in  the 
United  States  five  years,  but  he  may  vote 
after  being  in  the  country  one  year  and  hav- 
ing taken  out  his  first  papers."  This  is  a 
grossly  unjust  discrimination  against  native- 
born  American  citizens.  A  person  born  in 
the  country,  brought  up  in  an  American  at- 
mosphere, and  acquainted  from  boyhood  with 
our  Constitution  and  laws,  must  be  in  the 
country  twenty-one  years  before  he  can  vote, 
while  a  foreigner,  coming  here  without  any 
knowledge  whatever  of  our  laws  or  language, 
and  thoroughly  indoctrinated  with  anti-Amer- 
ican ideas,  can  vote  after  being  here  one  year. 


UNTO   GOD  THANKSGIVING.  165 

This  makes  the  right  of  suffrage  much  too 
cheap  in  the  case  of  foreigners.  No  person, 
whether  native  or  foreign  born,  should  be 
allowed  to  vote  until  he  is  a  citizen.  A  na- 
tive American  cannot  vote  until  he  reaches 
his  majority  and  becomes  a  full  fledged  citi- 
zen under  the  law,  and  a  foreigner  should  not 
be  allowed  to  vote  until  he  has  completed 
his  right  to  become  a  naturalized  citizen  by- 
residing  in  the  country  the  full  term  of  five 
years. 

In  our  America  the  voters  are  the  rulers, 
by  the  will  of  a  majority  of  whom  we  consent 
to  be  governed.  Hence  among  us  the  ballot- 
box  is  sacred.  It  is  the  ark  of  our  covenant, 
in  which  each  voter  puts  his  testimony  in  re- 
gard to  what  he  wishes  the  policies  of  the 
nation  to  be.  Above  this  is  the  mercy-seat, 
where  the  Christian  voter  leaves  his  prayer 
for  the  blessing  of  Grod  on  the  principles  sym- 
bolized in  the  ballot  which  he  deposits  in  the 
box.  It  is  of  the  most  vital  importance  that 
we  ascertain  the  real  majority.  The  only  loyal 
and  honorable  way  to  do  this  is  by  a  free  ballot 
and  a  fair  count.  No  voter  should  be  allowed 
to  be  influenced  by  strong  drink,  bribery,  bet- 
ting, bulldozing,  or  in  any  other  unlawful  way. 
The  nation's  strong  arm  should  be  outstretched 
for  the  protection  of  every  legal  voter  in  the 


166  THAKKSGIVING   SERMONS. 

free  exercise  of  suffrage  in  all  sections  of  this 
great  country. 

There  is  a  slavery  fastening  itself  upon  our 
people  most  odious.  It  is  the  liquor  slavery. 
It  enslaves  the  white,  red,  and  black  man.  It 
enslaves  both  body  and  soul,  both  in  time  and 
eternity.  It  exists  not  only  by  its  consent, 
but  is  licensed  by  the  government  and  most 
of  the  States  of  the  Union,  thus  not  only 
authorizing  it,  but  protecting  the  vile  traffic. 
We  are  filled  with  mortification  at  the  alarm- 
ing fact  that  protection  is  afforded  to  this 
boa-constrictor  while  it  is  crushing  the  life 
out  of  our  nation.  The  liquor  league  is  an 
alarming  menace  to  our  own  civil  liberty. 
The  saloon  is  not  only  sapping  the  financial, 
physical,  mental,  and  spiritual  life  of  many  of 
our  people,  but  is  using  its  enormous  power 
in  vigorous  efforts  to  control  the  destinies  of 
our  nation.  This  is  a  deplorable  condition  of 
things,  which  must  be  corrected  or  we  are 
doomed  to  the  disgraceful  grave  of  a  drunken 
nation  in  the  not  distant  future. 

In  conclusion,  I  may  say  that  our  glad  hearts 
and  cheerful  voices  unite  on  this  happy  day 
with  the  multitudes  of  our  American  people 
in  "  offering  unto  God  thanksgiving "  for  the 
bounties  of  his  providence  by  which  we  are 
fed,  clothed,  housed,  and  warmed.    He  has 


UNTO   GOD  THANKSGIVING.  167 

stayed  the  pestilence  at  our  door,  he  has 
blessed  our  schools,  and  is  bringing  forward 
a  patriotic  and  God-fearing  generation  to  exe- 
cute his  great  and  benevolent  design  for  our 
country.  He  has  given  us  a  great  increase  in 
material  wealth  and  a  wide  diffusion  of  con- 
tentment and  comfort  in  the  homes  of  our 
people;  he  has  given  his  grace  to  the  sor- 
rowing. 


THE  JOY  IN  HARVEST. 

BY  THE  REV.  ARTHUR  E.  GREGORY.     NJ 
"The  joy  in  harvest/' — Isa.  ix.  3. 

The  analogies  between  natural  and  spiritual 
growth  are  so  many  and  so  striking  that  few 
illustrations  are  more  apt  than  that  which 
represents  teaching  as  the  sowing  of  seed,  the 
reception  of  teaching  as  the  development  of 
seed.  What  seed  is  to  bread  and  bread  to 
physical  life,  that  word  is  to  thought  and 
thought  to  spiritual  life. 

The  seed  cast  into  the  ground  lies  hidden 
there,  and  goes  through  many  wonderful  pro- 
cesses before  the  seed-corn  multiplies  into  the 
golden  harvest  which  falls  before  the  reaper's 
sickle;  so  a  word  spoken  in  life's  seed-time 
may  remain  in  the  mind  unnoticed  for  years, 
yet  at  the  last  develop  into  the  influence  which 
shall  make  or  mar  a  man's  life. 

In  the  verse  from  which  our  text  is  taken 
the  prophet  describes  the  gladness  with  which 
men  will  welcome  the  Prince-Messiah  as  par- 
taking of  the  character  both  of  the  joy  which 

168 


THE  JOY  IN   HAEVEST.  169 

men  feel  in  the  peaceful  triumphs  of  the  har- 
vest-time, and  of  the  victor's  joy  when  he  di- 
vides the  spoil  of  his  vanquished  enemy :  They 
joy  before  tJiee  according  to  the  joy  in  harvest, 
and  as  men  rejoice  when  they  divide  the  spoil. 

"  The  joy  in  harvest "  is  the  joy  of  the  re- 
ward, the  joy  of  victory. 

1.  The  reward  of  labor.  Grod  gives  us 
comparatively  few  things  ready  for  use.  The 
world  is  much  more  like  a  manufactory  than 
a  storehouse  of  ready-made  goods.  God  gives 
us  the  raw  material,  but  we  must  work  it  up 
into  the  manifold  forms  in  which  we  require 
it  for  the  purposes  of  life.  God  does  not  give 
us  bread,  but  the  possibility  of  bread.  He 
gives  us  "the  grain  by  which  a  man  may 
live  " ;  but  we  must  plow  and  sow,  must  reap 
and  grind  and  bake,  before  the  bare  grain  be- 
comes the  bread  of  the  family  board  and  the 
sacramental  table.  Even  so  God  gives  his 
Word,  not  as  life,  but  as  the  possibility  of  life. 

Man  lives  by  bread,  but  not  by  bread  alone. 
As  there  is  a  life  which  bread  sustains,  so  there 
is  a  life  which  truth  sustains. 

Every  man  is  a  sower,  and  every  man  in  due 
season  shall  be  a  reaper.  Whatsoever  a  man 
soweth,  that  shall  he  also  reap.  The  idler,  the 
sensual,  the  fool,  as  well  as  the  wise,  the  dili- 
gent, the  godly,  shall  each  have  his  harvest. 


170  THANKSGIVING   SEKMONS. 

Is  not  this  the  solemn  lesson  of  the  harvest- 
time,  that  he  who  v^ould  reap  hereafter  must 
sow  now;  that  he  who  would  rest  hereafter 
must  work  now  ?  The  fast-falling  leaves,  the 
shortening  days,  remind  us  that  we  all  do  fade 
as  a  leaf ;  that  life's  little  day  is  hastening  to 
its  close ;  that  the  night  cometh,  when  no  man 
can  work. 

The  thought  of  what  is  and  of  what  has  been 
IS  sad  enough ;  but  oh,  the  infinite  sadness  of 
the  thought  of  what  might  have  been !  How 
different  is  the  lot  of  those  who  have  labored 
diligently  and  faithfully !  Such  earnest  souls 
the  voice  from  heaven  pronounces  blessed. 
For  they  rest  from  their  labors;  and  their  works 
do  follow  them, 

2.  The  reward  of  patience.  If  the  earth- 
ly husbandman  has  need  of  long  patience,  how 
much  more  and  how  much  longer  patience 
does  he  need  who  seeks  a  spiritual  harvest! 
The  corn  of  wheat  grows  slowly,  but  God's 
truth  grows  more  slowly  still.  Grod's  servant 
may  sow  his  seed  early  and  diligently,  but  often 
he  may  wait  in  vain  through  all  his  life  for  the 
joy  of  the  harvest.  Yet  if  he  will  let  patience 
have  her  perfect  work  he  shall  have  no  need  to 
complain  of  his  harvest.  He  who  sowed  in 
tears  shall  reap  in  joy.  He  who  in  the  morn- 
ing sowed  his  seed,  and  in  the  evening  with- 


THE  JOY  IN   HARVEST.  171 

held  not  his  hand,  shall  find  at  last  that  one  or 
the  other  has  prospered.  Both  shall  not  dis- 
appoint his  hopes ;  perhaps,  to  his  surprise  and 
infinite  joy,  both  shall  be  alike  good. 

3.  The  reward  of  faith.  Faith  and  pa- 
tience always  go  together.  The  man  who 
believes  can  wait.  When  a  child  puts  seed 
into  the  ground,  he  does  so  without  any  of 
that  strong  conviction  of  its  vital  power  which 
experience  has  given  to  his  father,  and  so,  from 
want  of  faith  in  the  seed,  he  appeals  to  sight, 
and  digs  it  up  to  see  how  it  is  getting  on. 
There  are  many  older  children  who  make  a 
similar  mistake  as  to  spiritual  sowing.  The 
truth  they  speak  does  not  bear  fruit  at  once, 
and,  not  having  any  strong  conviction  of  the 
value  of  the  seed  apart  from  the  skill  of  the 
sower,  they  plow  up  the  field  and  sow  fresh 
seed  for  another  crop,  until  they  learn  by  ex- 
perience that,  while  ill  weeds  grow  apace,  he 
who  would  gather  wheat  into  his  garner  must 
wait  until  it  has  ripened. 

Now  the  gospel  sower  must  have  faith  in  his 
seed.  The  curse  of  the  Christian  church  has 
been  men  who  preached  the  gospel  without 
really  believing  it.  The  secret  of  the  apostles' 
success  was  that  they  could  say.  We  helieve,  and 
therefore  speak.  We  cannot  feel  too  strongly 
the  truth  that  the  power  lies  in  the  seed,  not 


172  THANKSGIVING  SEKMONS. 

in  the  sower.  This  is  as  true  in  the  church  as 
it  is  in  the  corn-field.  Our  earthly  harvests 
are  not  sown  or  reaped  by  men  of  science  able 
to  tell  us  all  that  has  yet  been  learned  of  the 
mysteries  of  life  and  growth,  save  in  rare  in- 
stances, but  often  by  unlettered  laborers  who 
can  scarcely  sign  their  names  or  read  their 
Bibles.  And  many  of  the  most  precious 
sheaves  gathered  into  the  garner  of  God  have 
been  the  fruit  of  the  labors  of  unlearned  and 
ignorant  men. 

One  of  the  most  dangerous  practical  heresies 
of  our  time  results  from  this  want  of  faith  in 
the  seed  of  the  kingdom.  Men  lose  faith  in  the 
power  and  attractiveness  of  the  gospel  plainly 
preached,  clearly  expounded,  and  earnestly  en- 
forced. They  substitute  for  it,  or  at  any  rate 
rest  their  hopes  of  success  upon,  oratory,  archi- 
tecture, music,  political  harangues,  or  some  of 
the  other  devices  for  attracting  congregations 
with  which  the  columns  of  religious  news- 
papers make  us  familiar.  But  if  Christ's  la- 
borer loses  faith  in  his  seed  he  had  better  give 
up  sowing  altogether,  lest  at  last  he  be  counted 
as  an  enemy  who  sowed  tares  among  the 
wheat. 

If  any  man  cannot  trust  God's  truth  to  live 
and  grow  and  bring  fruit  to  perfection,  though 
he  have  all  gifts  of  earthly  wisdom  and  know- 


THE  JOY  IN   HAEVEST.  173 

ledge,  though  he  may  win  wide  popularity,  he 
will  never  have  any  harvest  such  as  angel- 
reapers  gather  into  God's  garner.  But  if  he 
will  only  take  care  to  fill  his  seed-basket  from 
the  storehouse  of  Grod's  truth,  he  may  be  as 
Unlearned  as  the  first  apostles  were,  yet  in  the 
day  of  Christ  he  shall  joy  before  Grod  accord- 
ing to  the  joy  in  harvest,  and  as  men  rejoice 
when  they  divide  the  spoil. 

This,  then,  is  the  true  joy  of  the  harvest- 
time,  that  in  it  hard  work,  long  patience,  stead- 
fast faith  find  their  great  reward.  Of  that 
fullness  of  blessing  we  know  little  yet,  but  we 
do  know  that  it  will  be  a  joy  unspeakable  and 
full  of  glory.  It  is  a  joy  set  before  us  at  pres- 
ent, but  one  of  such  infinite  blessedness  that 
we  may  well  endure  with  patience  and  cheer- 
fulness the  toil  and  sweat  and  weariness  of  the 
brief  day  of  earthly  labor.  The  promises  of 
Grod,  the  character  of  Christ,  assure  us  that 
our  labor  is  not  in  vain  in  the  Lord.  There- 
fore^  my  beloved  brethren,  be  ye  steadfast,  un- 
movable,  always  abounding  in  the  work  of  the 
Lord. 


THE  WIDOWS  CRUSE. 

''And  the  barrel  of  meal  wasted  not,  neither  did  the  cruse 
of  oil  fail,  according  to  the  word  of  the  Lord,  which  he  spake 
by  Elijah.''— 1  Kings  xvii.  16. 

We  have  in  this  chapter  an  account  of  the 
commencement  of  the  ministry  of  Elijah — a 
ministry  which  was  full  of  greatness  and  ro- 
mantic interest.  His  sudden  and  brief  appear- 
ances, his  undaunted  courage  before  kings  and 
multitudes  alike,  his  fiery  zeal,  his  unflinching 
self-sacrifice,  the  glory  of  his  departure  from 
the  earth,  the  calm  beauty  of  his  reappearance 
on  the  mount  of  transfiguration — these,  to- 
gether, make  up  the  startling  story  of  an  al- 
most unrivaled  life.  As  we  think  over  that 
story  we  see  that  the  keynote  of  his  life,  and 
the  secret  source  of  all  his  power,  was  his  faith 
in  Grod.  There  was  a  vivid  reality  in  his  grasp 
of  the  unseen.  His  communion  with  God  was 
close  and  continuous.  He  felt  that  he  stood 
ever  in  the  presence  of  a  living  God  (verse  1). 

174 


THE  widow's  ckuse.  175 

In  this  cliapter  we  have  a  page  of  his  history, 
one  of  the  steps  in  his  spiritual  education,  a 
part  of  the  training  by  which  God  fitted  him 
for  his  high  work.  It  is  not  difficult  for  us  to 
picture  the  scene.  The  famine  was  in  the  land. 
He  was  commanded  to  go  to  Zarephath,  where 
he  was  to  be  sustained  during  the  long  and 
trying  days. 

To  whom  in  Zarephath  was  he  sent!  Who 
would  be  able  to  supply  his  wants  in  such 
needy  days?  A  widow  woman!  A  widow 
woman?  Yes,  but  perchance  one  who  was 
possessed  of  abounding  wealth ;  who  had  a  lux- 
urious home,  with  costly  equipage  and  trains 
of  servants ;  one  who  could  clothe  herself  in 
purple  and  fine  linen  and  fare  sumptuously 
every  day  1  The  prophet  reached  the  gates  of 
Zarephath,  hot,  worn,  and  dusty  with  his  jour- 
ney. The  widow  woman  was  there ;  what  did 
he  see!  Were  there  signs  which  spoke  at 
once  of  wealth  and  social  importance  ?  Nay. 
He  saw  a  thin,  haggard  woman,  with  sunken 
eyes,  with  the  deep  lines  on  her  face  which 
anxiety  and  want  and  sul^ering  always  plow 
there.  She,  in  her  worn  and  faded  attire,  was 
groping  about  with  tottering  steps,  to  gather 
a  few  stray  sticks,  that  with  them  she  might 
prepare  what  she  thought  would  be  the  last 
meal  for  herself  and  her  child.     She  was  poor, 


176  THANKSGIVING  SERMONS. 

she  was  nearly  starved,  and  there  was  famine 
in  the  land.  In  such  dark  and  dreadful  days 
the  prophet  was  sent  to  this  poor  widow,  who 
was  to  sustain  him.  He  finds  her  sharing  all 
the  common  want — hungry,  despairing,  nigh 
to  death.  Yet,  in  spite  of  this,  he  asked  her 
to  fetch  him  a  little  water  to  drink ;  and  as  she, 
with  the  courtesy  and  hospitality  which  have 
always  graced  Eastern  life,  was  going  to  bring 
it  he  asked  for  a  little  food  also.  In  reply  she 
told  him  the  sad  story  of  her  own  want  and 
despair.  She  and  her  child  had  come  to  their 
last  handful.  They  were  about  to  eat  that  and 
die.  In  answer  to  this,  Elijah  proclaimed 
God's  great  promise:  "The  barrel  of  meal 
shall  not  waste,  neither  shall  the  cruse  of  oil 
fail,  until  the  day  that  the  Lord  sendeth  rain 
upon  the  earth."  She  went  in  awe  at  the  great 
promise  and  obeyed  Elijah's  word,  because 
she  believed  it  to  be  the  word  of  the  Lord. 

1.  This  history  illustrates  the  great  fact 
that  God  provides  for  man. 

God's  promise  encouraged  them  to  hope  for  a 
continuous  supply  in  their  barrel  and  cruse, 
and  the  promise  never  failed.  It  was  clearly 
and  manifestly  God's  provision  for  them.  This 
is  made  clear  by  the  poverty  of  the  people,  and 
also  by  the  searching  famine  which  covered  the 
whole  land.    We  have  abounding  illustrations 


THE  widow's  ckuse.  177 

of  the  same  fact.  During  the  wilderness  wan- 
derings of  the  children  of  Israel  the  manna  fell 
day  by  day  and  never  failed  until  they  were 
entering  upon  their  inheritance  and  began  to 
eat  the  old  corn  of  the  land.  So,  more  than 
once  during  his  ministry,  we  see  Christ  feeding 
the  multitudes  and  also  turning  the  water  into 
wine,  thus  giving  other  instances  of  the  same 
truth. 

Here,  then,  is  the  meaning  of  our  harvest 
festival.  In  the  various  developments  in  na- 
ture— in  the  growth  of  leaves  and  grass,  of  corn 
and  fruits  and  flowers,  in  rain  and  drought,  in 
fruitful  and  unfruitful  seasons,  in  production 
and  reproduction  year  by  year  and  age  after 
age — we  see,  not  only  the  outcome  of  material 
forces,  not  only  human  culture  and  its  reward, 
but  the  bounteous  gifts  of  Grod.  We  see  God 
caring  for  and  supplying  man's  need.  This 
history  is  but  a  fragment  and  illustration  of 
the  whole  history  of  the  world.  It  is  the  echo 
of  that  older  and  wider  promise  which  Grod 
has  always  remembered  and  always  faithfully 
kept:  "While  the  earth  remaineth,  seed-time 
and  harvest,  and  cold  and  heat,  and  summer 
and  winter,  and  day  and  night  shall  not  cease." 

Do  we  think  of  the  great  lesson  of  this  ? 

What  must  have  been  uppermost  in  the 
minds  of  these  three  as  they  sat  down  to  their 


178  THANKSGIVING  SEKMONS. 

humble  fare  day  by  day  1  They  were  living, 
consciously,  by  the  bounty  of  God.  They  had 
not  purchased  that  food  for  money ;  it  had  not 
been  produced  as  the  fruit  of  their  toil.  Every 
fragment  of  it  was  distinctly  and  solely  God's 
gift  to  them.  It  was  the  bread  of  heaven. 
They  were  eating  "  angels'  food."  What  awe 
and  reverence  must  have  filled  their  souls! 
Every  meal  was  as  a  sacramental  act:  they 
were  in  the  very  presence,  consuming  the  very 
gifts,  of  God ! 

Should  it  not  be  so  also  with  us !  We,  alas ! 
too  often  take  things  for  granted  without  ask- 
ing any  questions  about  them.  We  look  upon 
our  daily  bread,  and  the  abundant  supply  for 
the  needs  of  life,  but  as  the  fruit  of  the  earth 
and  the  produce  of  our  labor.  And  yet,  if  we 
only  go  beyond  the  screen  of  appearance,  we 
must  sooner  or  later  come  to  this — that  all 
these  things  have  their  source  and  their  con- 
tinued vitality  from  God.  Life  ought  to  be  a 
holier  thing.  The  thought  of  God's  nearness 
ought  to  fill  our  souls  and  penetrate  through 
all,  even  the  very  commonest,  acts  of  life.  God, 
who  provided  for  the  forlorn  widow  and  the 
needy  prophet,  is  still  doing  his  bounteous 
work  and  is  making  large  and  loving  provision 
for  us. 

2.  We  are  led  also  to  see  the  way  God 
provides. 


THE   WIDOW'S   CKUSE.  179 

No  large  store  was  suddenly  given  to  the 
widow ;  even  the  barrel  of  meal  and  the  cruse 
of  oil  were  not  filled  up  by  unseen  hands,  but 
as  they  used  a  little  a  little  yet  remained  to 
them;  there  was  never  much,  but  yet  the 
handful  for  their  present  need  was  never 
wanting.  God  gave  them  their  food  during 
those  days  of  famine,  but  he  gave  them  no 
large  store.  Little  by  little,  day  by  day — this 
was  the  law  in  accordance  with  which  his 
bounty  was  supplied. 

It  was  not  only  so  in  this  particular  in- 
stance ;  it  is  the  general  law  of  God's  dealings 
with  man.  He  gives  sufficient  for  the  present 
use,  but  no  more.  There  was  no  storing  up 
supplies  of  the  manna  in  the  wilderness:  it 
was  given  day  by  day.  The  same  law  applies 
to  the  gift  for  which,  to-day,  we  render  thanks 
to  God.  Corn  is  an  annual  plant.  The  yearly 
harvest  only  suffices  for  the  yearly  food.  In 
ordinary  circumstances  we  cannot  store  it  up 
from  year  to  year,  but  must  sow  and  reap 
every  year.  So  is  it,  also,  with  our  means. 
What  we  are  to  have  and  consume  in  life  is 
not  given  to  us  at  once,  in  one  great  store,  but 
it  comes  to  us  from  time  to  time,  from  week 
to  week,  or  from  year  to  year.  We  do  not 
like  this.  We  often  wish  we  could  have  it 
otherwise.  We  are  often  anxious  because  we 
want  the  much  and  only  have  the  little.    We 


180  THANKSGIVING   SEEMONS. 

think  to  ourselves,  If  our  position  were  more 
certain,  if  we  had  a  sure  income  sufficient  for 
our  desires,  and  no  anxiety  about  its  failing 
us,  if  we  had  no  worry  about  the  next  quar- 
ter's rent,  about  work  growing  slack,  or  about 
health  giving  way,  how  different  life  would 
be !  But  no,  it  is  not  God's  order  of  dealing 
with  us.  He  does  not  bestow  one  great  sole 
gift,  but  small  and  continuous  gifts.  As  in 
the  history  he  gave,  day  by  day,  just  a  few 
handfuls  in  the  barrel  and  a  little  oil  in  the 
cruse,  so  we  are  to  ask  day  by  day,  and  are  to 
expect  only  sufficient  for  the  day's  need. 

3.  And  this  is  to  teach  us  the  principle 
on  which  we  should  always  seek  to  live 
— ^faith  in  God ;  faith  day  by  day. 

If  the  other  order  had  been  followed — if 
some  giant  store,  with  ample  supplies  for  all 
our  wants  and  for  all  our  life  had  been  given  to 
us — how  many  of  us  would  be  sorely  tempted 
to  put  our  trust  in  it !  We  should  pride  our- 
selves in  possessing  the  store  and  forget  Grod. 
Our  store  may  be  small,  like  this  barrel  and 
this  cruse ;  we  perchance  would  have  it  larger 
and  more  certain.  We  are  over-anxious  about 
to-morrow  or  next  year.  We  do  not  see  how 
all  our  needs  are  to  be  met,  or  what  is  going 
to  happen  to  us.  But  yet  let  us  ask  ourselves. 
Are  we  not  fed  to-day  ?    Are  we  not  clothed 


THE  widow's   cruse.  181 

to-day?  By  whom?  Surely  what  we  have 
has  come  to  us  by  the  loving  care  and  bounty 
of  God.  We  must  trust  that  he  will  be  equally 
mindful  of  us  and  as  gracious  to  us  on  the 
morrow.  We  are  always  dependent  upon  him. 
Day  by  day,  therefore,  we  should  feel  our  need 
and  trust  him  for  the  necessary  supply.  This 
is  evidently  the  law  for  the  Christian  life,  be- 
cause the  great  pattern  prayer  teaches  us  to 
ask  for  daily  bread:  "Grive  us  this  day  our 
daily  bread."  We  are  not  taught  to  pray  for 
the  larger  gift  for  which  the  heart  too  often 
craves,  but  for  the  supply  of  the  day's  wants. 
Christians  are  to  pray  daily  for  daily  bread. 

Here  is  a  lesson  of  faith  which  we  should  all 
strive  to  learn. 

How  blessed  a  season  is  the  annual  harvest- 
home  !  Amid  all  the  strife  and  doubt  and  care 
of  our  daily  life  the  produce  of  the  earth  is 
given  from  year  to  year  with  almost  unvary- 
ing regularity.  Our  God  feeds  the  birds  and 
beasts  which  cry  to  him.  He  spangles  the 
earth  and  sky  with  an  ever- varying  beauty. 
Nature  sings  her  anthems  to  his  power  and 
goodness.  Eevelation  unfolds  his  love.  Let 
us  trust  him  with  a  larger  faith.  Let  us  trust 
him  ever.  The  barrel  of  meal  shall  not  waste, 
the  cruse  of  oil  shall  not  fail :  our  bread  shall 
be  given  to  us,  our  waters  shall  be  sure.     "  I 


182  THANKSGIVING  SEKMONS. 

have  been  young,  and  now  am  old ;  yet  have  I 
not  seen  the  righteous  forsaken,  nor  his  seed 
begging  bread."  Such  was  the  psalmist's  ex- 
perience, and  all  later  ages  bear  unfaltering 
witness  to  the  truth  of  his  words. 

One  beautiful  thought  remains : 

We  are  to  give,  and  our  store  increases  in 
the  giving.  The  poor  widow  woman,  although 
on  the  very  verge  of  starvation,  was  ready  to 
share  her  last  morsel  with  another  in  greater 
need.  She  made  the  little  cake  for  the  prophet, 
believing  his  word  to  be  the  word  of  God.  Did 
loss  result  from  her  giving?  Nay,  not  loss, 
but  increase !  Griying  is  a  consequence  of  re- 
ceiving. Griving  is  also  a  condition  of  receiv- 
ing more. 

We  need  faith  in  God.  A  vivid  sense  of 
God's  presence,  God's  goodness,  God's  ability 
and  willingness  to  bless  us,  is  an  essential  part 
of  every  true  and  noble  life.  "  Give,  and  it 
shall  be  given  unto  you ;  good  measure,  pressed 
down,  and  shaken  together,  and  running  over, 
shall  men  give  into  your  bosom."  Whose  words 
are  these  ?  Do  we  really  believe  them  ?  Are 
they  divine  words  to  us  I  Are  we  prepared  to 
accept  and  act  on  the  principle  they  teach? 
If  so,  we  shall  make  a  large  and  liberal  offer- 
ing at  our  Thanksgiving  festival  in  thankful 
recognition  of  all  God's  manifold  bounty. 


THE   WIDOW^S   CRUSE.  183 

Oh  for  an  act  of  faith  and  love  to-day  which 
will  help  the  sonl  to  burst  the  fetters  of  sel- 
fishness— those  fetters  which  have  bound  the 
better  part  of  us  so  long  and  so  fast !  Oh  for 
a  gift  to  God  which  will  help  the  whole  man 
to  rise  up  to  a  purer  and  higher  state  of  be- 
ing !  The  generous  gift  will  be  an  act  of  self- 
emancipation :  you  shall  no  longer  be  the  slave 
of  self,  but  Grod's  child,  Christ's  freeman.  Fear 
not  to  offer  the  material  gift ;  it  will  come  back 
a  hundredfold  in  spiritual  power. 


THE   SOWER. 

BY  THE  REV.  GORDON  CALTHROP. 
"Behold,  a  sower  went  forth  to  sow." — Matt.  xiii.  3. 

The  Saviour,  gazing  earnestly  and  tenderly 
on  a  vast  gathering  before  him,  spoke  the  first 
of  his  parables — the  parable  of  the  sower. 

We  find  three  topics  to  discuss :  (1)  the  seed ; 
(2)  the  sower;  (3)  the  success.  Let  us  con- 
sider them  in  order. 

1.  The  seed.  The  Saviour  himself  tells  us 
that  the  seed  is  the  "  Word  of  God  " ;  and  we 
understand  by  the  expression  "  Word  of  God," 
not,  of  course,  the  entire  Scripture,  but  the 
divine  message  of  God's  love  to  man,  however 
concise  and  concentrated  may  be  the  language 
in  which  it  is  contained.  For  instance,  in  the 
well-known  and  beautiful  passage  in  St.  John's 
Gospel  (chap.  iii.  16),  we  have  only  a  few  more 
than  twenty  words,  and  those  of  the  very  sim- 
plest character ;  but  what  a  treasure  of  living 
thought  is  packed  into  them !  So  in  the  last 
part  of  1  John  i.  7,  there  are  just  a  dozen 

184 


THE   SOWER.  185 

words ;  yet  they  speak,  not  indistinctly,  of  tlie 
lost  estate  of  man,  who  needs  cleansing  from 
his  sin ;  of  the  means  whereby  that  cleansing 
is  effected — the  shedding  of  the  blood  of  a 
person,  and  that  person  no  other  than  the  Son 
of  Grod ;  of  the  completeness  of  the  cleansing ; 
and  they  lead  ns  to  infer  the  wonder  of  the 
love  of  the  Father  which  could  devise  such  a 
plan  as  this.  Let  a  man  take  into  his  heart 
sincerely  the  thoughts  here  or  elsewhere  sug- 
gested, and  the  statement  will  become  to  him 
the  beginning  and  the  cause  of  a  perfectly  new 
career — he  will  be  a  changed  man.  Or  to 
phrase  it  differently :  the  statement  is  a  "  seed  " 
with  life  in  it,  and  it  will  germinate  and  spring 
up  and  bear  fruit  to  the  glory  of  God. 

2.  The  sower.  Who  is  this?  First  of  all, 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  himself,  who — as  the 
Son  in  whom  and  by  whom  the  Father  hath 
spoken  to  us  (Heb.  i.  2) — supplies  us  with  the 
seed  of  heavenly  teaching.  And  let  us  note 
that  his  word  is  the  last  word,  that  there  is  no 
one  to  come  after  him.  Next,  the  ministers  of 
the  gospel  and  missionaries.  Next,  all  who  by 
speech  or  writing,  or  both,  undertake  to  in- 
struct their  fellow-men  in  the  ways  of  the 
Lord;  and  among  these  are  visitors  of  the 
poor,  Sunday-school  teachers,  and  those  who 
speak  of  Jesus  to  their  friends  and  acquain- 


186  THANKSGIVING   SERMONS. 

tances ;  and  last,  bnt  not  least,  mothers  who 
gather  their  children  round  their  knee  and  tell 
them  the  sweet  story  of  old,  and  what  Jesus 
said  and  did  when  he  lived  among  men.  These 
all,  if  they  have  received  their  own  teaching 
from  the  Lord  Jesus  through  his  Spirit,  may 
be  said  to  be  "  sowers  "  of  the  Word. 

3.  The  success.  This  is  only  partial.  Our 
Lord  speaks  in  the  parable  of  four  different 
kinds  of  hearers  of  the  gospel,  and  compares 
them  to  four  different  kinds  of  soil.     There  is 

(a)  the  hard-beaten  path,  trodden  down  by  the 
hoofs  of  horses  or  bullocks  and  the  feet  of  men ; 

(b)  the  shallow  soil,  spread  over  the  surface  of 
an  impenetrable  rock ;  (c)  the  field,  from  which 
the  thorns  and  briers  and  thistles  and  other 
weeds  have  not  been  cleared  away ;  and  (d)  the 
good  ground,  which  yields  a  crop  more  or  less 
abundant,  and  in  which  alone  out  of  the  four 
is  there  any  real  recompense  of  the  cultivator's 
labor  and  care. 

As  to  these  four  classes  of  hearers :  In  (a)  we 
have  the  uninterested  and  inattentive  people 
— their  hearts  hardened  by  contact  with  the 
world — who  listen  to  the  message  but  do  not 
heed  it.  They  may  be  pleased  with  the  way  in 
which  it  is  put,  by  the  manner  of  the  speaker 
or  writer,  but  the  message  itself  is  nothing  to 
them.    They  do  not  recognize  that  they  have 


THE   SOWER.  187 

any  personal  concern  in  the  matter.  These 
people  are  not  to  be  regarded  as  hopeless. 
Affiction  or  some  other  divine  destiny  may 
come  and  plow  up  the  hardened  soil  and  pre- 
pare it  for  the  reception  of  the  seed.  In  (h)  we 
have  a  more  hopeless  class — not  absolutely 
hopeless,  but  more  hopeless.  They  are  the 
emotional  people,  who  receive  the  message  of 
salvation  with  joy,  who  enter  with  alacrity 
and  pleasure  upon  the  Christian  race,  but 
presently  grow  weary  of  it.  Their  religion, 
they  find,  costs  them  something.  They  have  to 
sacrifice  ease  or  interest  or  reputation  to  it ;  and 
then  they  back  out  by  degrees,  and  return  to 
the  world.  They  remind  one  of  an  uncoupled 
train  on  a  railway.  Look  at  it!  It  goes 
fast  at  first,  but  its  pace  is  continually  decreas- 
ing ;  and  at  last  it  comes  to  a  standstill.  And 
why  ?  Because  it  is  detached  from  the  motive 
power.  The  third  class  (c)  is  characterized  by 
a  still  greater  degree  of  spiritual  hopelessness. 
These  are  they  who  attempt  to  combine  the 
service  of  God  with  the  service  of  the  world. 
And  what  is  the  result?  That,  with  abun- 
dance of  the  leaves  of  profession,  there  are  no 
fruits  of  righteousness :  "  They  bring  no  fruit 
to  perfection." 

Now,  before  we  go  further  and  speak  about 
the  fourth  class  of  hearers,  let  us  endeavor  to 


188  THANKSGIVING   SERMONS. 

secure  ourselves  against  possible  misapprehen- 
sion. It  is  not  meant  that  we  are  born  into 
one  of  these  three  classes,  and  that  there  we 
must  remain ;  but  rather  that  we  have  each  of 
us,  in  a  greater  or  less  degree,  impulses,  ten- 
dencies, to  be  heedless  or  to  be  shallow-hearted 
or  to  be  worldly ;  that  if  these  tendencies  be 
resisted  and  overcome  by  the  help  of  the  Divine 
Spirit  all  will  be  well ;  but  if  they  are  yielded 
to,  and  so  gain  the  upper  hand,  we  gravitate 
toward  one  of  the  three  classes — toward  that 
to  which  our  character  most  inclines  us — and 
become  fixed  in  it. 

In  the  last  place,  let  us  consider  the  class  of 
those  whom  our  Lord  has  in  his  mind  when 
he  speaks  of  the  good  ground,  which  "  brought 
forth  fruit,  some  a  hundredfold,  some  sixty- 
fold,  some  thirtyfold."  We  will  turn  to  the 
account  which  St.  Luke  gives  of  the  parable 
(see  chap.  viii.  15),  and  take  his  version  in  con- 
junction with  that  of  his  brother  evangelist. 

The  profitable  hearer  is  one  who  receives  the 
divine  message — the  seed  of  the  Word — into 
the  soil  of  "an  honest  and  good  heart" — a 
heart  made  such,  of  course,  by  the  power  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  (see  Acts  xvi.  14).  He  hears 
it,  then,  as  all  do ;  but  he  takes  the  next  step 
of  "  understanding "  it,  i.e.,  of  recognizing  its 
practical  application  to  himself.    More  than 


THE  SOWEE.  189 

this,  he  retains  his  hold  upon  it,  in  spite 
of  adverse  influences  from  within  and  without. 
"  This  message  is  for  me  "  is  the  firm  and  per- 
sistent conviction  of  his  heart.  "Grod  has 
spoken  to  me,  and  I  believe  him."  More  still, 
the  reception  of  the  message  produces  an  effect, 
a  visible  effect,  upon  his  character  and  conduct. 
God,  the  great  husbandman  (John  xv.  1),  looks 
for  fruit  from  the  trees  he  has  planted.  And 
then,  he  perseveres  to  the  end.  He  does  not 
begin  and  leave  off.  "  He  brings  forth  fruit 
with  patience,"  i.e.,  with  endurance,  for  in  all 
work  of  God  there  is  a  principle  of  permanence. 
What  more  need  we  say  1  Each  can  easily 
apply  the  lessons  and  warnings  of  the  parable 
to  himself.  But  this  we  may  say,  briefly :  the 
first  step  is  the  right  reception  of  the  divine 
message,  and  the  next  is  the  firm  and  resolute 
retention  of  it. 


APART    FROM    THE    VINE. 

BY  THE  REV.  GORDON  CALTHROP. 
"Without  me  ye  can  do  nothing." — John  xv.  5. 

These  words  are  the  words  of  our  Lord  him- 
self about  himself,  and  they  belong  to  what  we 
sometimes  call "  the  parable  of  the  vine  and  its 
branches."  They  might  be  more  accurately 
translated  thus:  "Apart  from  Me  ye  can  do 
nothing  " — the  idea  being  not  merely  that  the 
help  of  Jesus  is  required  in  order  that  we  may 
have  spiritual  life  and  bear  "fruit"  to  the 
praise  and  glory  of  God,  but  that  we  cannot 
even  possess  spiritual  life  at  all  unless  we  are 
united  to  him  as  the  branch  is  united  to  the 
tree.  Have  you  ever  seen  a  man  "  budding  " 
roses!  He  has  a  number  of  strong,  stout 
"briers"  rooted  in  the  earth.  To  them  he 
comes  with  a  bundle  of  grafts  in  his  hand, 
and,  taking  one  of  the  grafts,  makes  an  inci- 
sion on  the  stem  of  the  brier ;  puts  the  graft 
into  the  opening,  wraps  a  mass  of  clay  round 
the  stem  of  the  graft  in  order  to  exclude  wind 

190 


APAET  FKOM  THE  VINE.        191 

and  rain  and  such  like  things,  and  then  leaves 
this  brier  and  goes  on  to  another,  repeating 
the  same  process.  In  due  time  he  examines 
his  work,  and  probably  finds  that  with  some 
successes  there  have  been  also  some  failures. 
In  the  case  of  the  failures  the  graft  and  the 
stem  have  only  been  brought  into  juxtaposi- 
tion and  contact.  In  the  case  of  the  successes 
the  graft  and  the  brier-stem  have  become 
united,  and  the  life,  i.e.,  the  sap  of  the  stem, 
flows  into  the  graft,  and  he  has  a  crop  of  buds 
and  flowers.  This  is  a  simple  illustration,  but 
it  will  help  us  to  understand  how  we  can  only 
have  spiritual  vitality  when  Christ  is  one  with 
us  and  we  one  with  Christ. 

But  let  us  expand  the  thoughts.  We  will 
take  three  points  for  consideration :  (1)  There 
can  be  no  fruit  without  life ;  (2)  there  can  be 
no  life  without  union  with  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ;  (3)  there  can  be  no  union  with  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  without  faith. 

1.  No  fruit  without  life.  In  the  natural 
world  we  see  this  at  once.  You  have  a  dead 
tree  in  your  garden,  and  you  know  perfectly 
well  that  no  amount  of  careful  pruning,  no 
application  of  water  or  of  manure  to  its  roots, 
will  enable  it  to  bear  fruit.  What  it  wants  is 
life,  and  that  the  Creator  alone  can  give.  So 
with  the  human  being.     The  Scripture  com- 


192  THANKSGIVING  SEKMONS. 

pares  him  to  a  plant,  and  as  a  plant  lie  mnst 
be  alive  before  you  can  expect  to  get  anything 
from  him  that  Grod  will  be  pleased  with  and 
will  consent  to  accept.  What  can  come  from 
a  soul  "  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins  "  ? 

2.  There  can  be  no  life  apart  from 
Christ.  Perhaps  this  statement  requires  a 
little  explanation.  We  are  not  speaking  here 
about  the  life  of  the  body  or  of  the  mind  and 
feelings — life  which  all  persons,  good  and  bad, 
possess — but  of  a  special  thing — a  thing  by 
which  we  become  acquainted  with  God,  and 
know  and  love  and  serve  him.  This  particu- 
lar kind  of  life  is  a  divine  gift,  and  it  is  the 
beginning  or  germ  of  "  life  eternal " ;  and  in 
order  to  be  possessed  of  it  we  must  be  pos- 
sessed of  Christ  himself.  See  1  John  v.  12 : 
"He  that  hath  the  Son"  hath  Christ  as  an 
inward  treasure,  as  an  inmate  dwelling  in  the 
secret  recesses  of  the  soul ;  hath  Christ  as  his 
Prophet,  to  teach  him;  his  Priest,  to  atone 
for  and  to  bless  him;  his  King,  to  rule  and 
direct  him ;  hath  Christ  as  his  "  portion  "  (Ps. 
cxix.  57) — he  and  he  alone  hath  the  life  which 
is  "  life  indeed."  Such  a  one  is  united  with 
Christ,  and  by  virtue  of  this  union  obtains  the 
blessing  we  speak  of. 

3.  No  union  with  Christ  without  faith. 
This  fact  is  abundantly  testified  to  in  Holy 


APAET  FBOM  THE  VINE.  193 

Scripture,  especially  in  the  Gospel  of  St.  John. 
There  everything  is  represented  as  hanging 
npon  faith.  Without  faith  the  human  soul 
stands  aloof  from  Christ.  By  faith  it  comes 
into  contact  with  him,  and  receives  out  of  his 
fullness.  The  treasure-chamber,  with  all  its 
untold  wealth,  is  before  us,  but  it  is  necessary 
for  us  to  open  the  door  and  cross  the  threshold 
and  enter  in.  Faith  does  this  for  us — the  faith 
which  is  the  work  of  the  Spirit  in  our  souls. 
By  faith  we  become  possessed  of  Christ  and 
he  becomes  possessed  of  us;  and  there  is  a 
living  union  established  between  him  and  his 
disciple.  This  faith  must  be  a  hahit  of  the  soul, 
sustained  in  us  by  the  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

So  much  for  our  three  points.  Now  let  me 
suggest  two  thoughts  before  we  conclude : 

(a)  It  is  said,  "  People  may  be  very  good  and 
excellent  without  this  union  with  Christ  and 
this  spiritual  life  of  which  you  have  been 
speaking.  They  may  be  honorable  and  con- 
scientious and  upright  and  kind  and  benevo- 
lent and  free  from  vice,  and  may  do  their  duty 
thoroughly  well  in  their  own  stations.  What 
more  do  you  want  ? "  Let  me  tell  you  a  little 
story.  Once  I  was  in  a  thunder-storm,  and  a 
flash  of  lightning  struck  a  tree — an  oak,  I  think 
— broke  down  a  huge  bough  from  it,  and  flung 
it  across  the  road,  which  I  passed  over  a  few 


194  THANKSGIVING  SEKMONS. 

minutes  after.  It  was  in  the  summer-time, 
when  the  trees  were  in  full  leaf.  Day  by  day 
I  passed  that  bough ;  it  had  not  been  removed 
— only  pushed  up  under  the  hedge.  The  first 
day  the  leaves  were  as  fresh  and  green  as  be- 
fore the  storm ;  the  second  day  they  were  the 
same;  so  on  the  third  day.  And  you  might 
have  said,  "  Well,  the  bough  is  independent  of 
the  tree.  It  has  lost  none  of  its  vitality  by 
being  broken  off."  But  on  the  fourth  day  a 
change  began  to  appear — the  leaves  seemed  to 
be  withering  up,  and  so  they  were ;  and  before 
long  the  bough  had  lost  its  beauty  and  its  life, 
and  was  a  poor,  shrunken,  miserable  thing,  fit 
only  to  be  cast  into  the  fire  and  burned.  There 
you  have  the  man  who  has  only  what  nature 
has  done  for  him  to  depend  upon.  His  good- 
ness is  an  evanescent,  fleeting  thing.  It  is  like 
the  prophet's  "  morning  cloud  and  early  dew." 
Apart  from  Christ,  severed  from  Christ,  we  can 
do  nothing. 

{h)  The  subject  teaches  us  that  it  is  wise  to 
begin  at  the  beginning.  Fruit  does  not  grow 
on  a  dead  tree.  And  we  shall  do  well  not  to 
expect  to  get  life  by  doing  good  works.  The 
life  comes  first,  and  the  life  is  the  gift  of  Grod ; 
and  where  the  life  is  the  good  works  are  sure 
to  appear. 


GOD  THE   GIVER  OF  INCREASE. 

"I  have  planted,  ApoUos  watered;  but  God  gave  the  in- 
crease."— 1  Cor.  iii.  6. 

Let  us  look  a  little  at  the  principle  the 
Apostle  lays  down :  God  gives  the  increase. 

1.  We  naturally  and  rightly  look  for 
increase. 

We  want  fruit  as  the  product  of  our  toil. 
We  all  work  with  a  distinct  aim.  "Who 
planteth  a  vineyard,  and  eateth  not  of  the 
fruit  thereof  ?  or  who  f eedeth  a  flock,  and 
eateth  not  of  the  milk  of  the  flock  ?  "  The  fact 
of  increase  is  at  once  one  of  the  greatest  in- 
ducements to  labor  and  one  of  the  greatest  re- 
wards of  it.  We  should  soon  grow  weary  of 
sowing  our  fields  if  we  reaped  no  harvests,  and 
of  keeping  open  our  shops  if  we  made  no  prof- 
it. Who  would  continue  to  work  if  the  work 
proved  altogether  barren  and  resultless  ? 

We  should  look  for  increase,  also,  in  higher 
things.  There  is  the  church  with  its  work. 
We  should  desire  to  see  it  grow  under  our 
fostering  care,  its  services  more  largely  at- 

195 


196  THANKSGIVING  SERMONS. 

tended,  its  communicants  ever  increasing,  its 
members  growing  more  active  and  earnest  in 
all  good  works.  There  are  the  schools,  under 
the  shadow  of  the  church,  really  in  its  charge. 
They  should  be  lovingly  cared  for  and  liberally 
sustained.  We  should  look  for  growing  num- 
bers and  increasing  usefulness.  We  should  be 
anxious  to  see  the  children  growing  up  into 
church-membership,  claiming  their  privileges 
and  realizing  their  responsibilities.  So  the 
church  of  God  should  be  a  growing  power  for 
good,  both  at  home  and  abroad,  in  the  slums 
of  great  cities  and  in  the  waste  places  of 
heathen  lands. 

We  should  look  for  increase,  also,  in  the 
personal  soul.  What  is  our  Christianity  ?  Not 
a  creed  only,  not  a  theology  only,  not  a  piece 
of  social  organization  only,  but  a  life.  It  is 
a  new  and  higher  life  planted  in  the  soul. 
"  Dead  in  trespasses  and  sins."  "  Born  again." 
"  Quickened."  A  vital  force  takes  possession 
of  the  dead  life.  "  Because  I  live,  ye  shall  live 
also."  We  are  to  "grow  in  grace."  Growth 
is  a  characteristic  of  life.  We  should  look  for 
it,  therefore,  in  the  soul.  The  apostles  could 
say  to  many  of  the  Christians  of  their  age, 
"  Your  faith  groweth,"  "  Your  love  groweth." 
Can  it  be  said  of  us?  Is  our  Christian  life 
standing  still  ?  or  is  it,  as  it  ought  to  be,  a  liv- 


GOD  THE   GIVER  OF  INCREASE.  197 

ing,  growing  thing !  As  the  years  pass  by  can 
we  see  more  faith,  more  prayer,  more  grace! 
Is  the  life  consciously  nearer  God !  If  we  ask 
such  questions  with  any  earnestness  they  lead 
us  to  a  second  thought : 

2.  If  we  want  the  increase,  we  must 
take  the  proper  means. 

This  is  true,  not  only  of  the  great  matters 
of  which  the  Apostle  is  speaking,  but  also  of 
the  commonest  things  of  daily  life.  It  is  one 
of  the  great  lessons  of  the  harvest.  Men  must 
clear  the  soil ;  they  must  plow  and  break  up  the 
fallow  ground ;  they  must  sow  the  good  seed, 
and  take  all  known  means  to  help  its  growth. 
So  is  it  in  business.  Sedulous  care  is  one  of 
the  secrets  of  success.  As  the  old  proverb 
puts  it,  "  Keep  your  shop  and  your  shop  will 
keep  you."  So  is  it  in  education.  There  is 
no  royal  road  to  learning  for  any  man.  Lan- 
guages and  sciences  will  not  come  to  us  by 
some  sudden  inspiration,  but  only  as  the  fruit 
of  hard  and  dreary  toil ;  and  if  you  want  the 
fruit  you  must  do  the  work.  In  every  domain 
of  life  Grod  blesses  human  forethought  and  toil 
and  faith.  It  is  true  in  the  spiritual  as  well  as 
in  the  natural  and  mental  sphere.  God  had 
given  the  increase  in  the  church  of  Corinth. 
Their  growth  in  the  Christian  faith  had  been 
rapid,  nay,  even  marvelous.    But  how  earnest 


198  THANKSGIVING   SEKMONS. 

had  been  the  labor  of  which  this  growth  was 
the  reward !  St.  Paul  had  planted  with  all  his 
zeal.  His  fiery  enthusiasm  had  caught  and 
inflamed  duller  souls  than  his  own.  Apollos, 
with  his  renowned  eloquence,  had  labored  too. 
These  were  the  antecedent  conditions  on  the 
human  side  to  which  that  growth  was  to  be 
ascribed. 

Have  we  any  anxiety  of  this  kind?  Do  we 
wish  our  church,  in  the  midst  of  its  large  pop- 
ulation, to  be  what  the  ministry  of  the  apostles 
was  to  heathen,  licentious  Corinth  ?  Is  it  shed- 
ding the  light  of  Grod's  truth  upon  the  world's 
sin  ?  Are  we  conscious  of  a  mission  to  train  up 
the  young,  to  reclaim  the  erring,  to  strengthen 
the  weak,  to  ennoble  the  base?  We  look  for 
increase.  We  even  long  for  it.  We  complain 
at  times  unless  we  see  a  large  measure  of  it — 
for  the  critic's  office  is  always  easy.  But  are 
we  taking  the  right  means'?  Are  we  striving 
to  plant  and  water?  Are  we  by  prayer  and 
work,  by  offerings  of  our  time  and  substance 
as  gifts  to  the  Lord,  taking  the  right  means 
to  secure  it  ? 

So,  too,  as  to  our  own  souls — have  we  any 
anxiety  about  these?  Is  there  any  daily 
thought,  any  daily  effort  to  grow  in  grace? 
Are  we  really  trying  to  be  better — really  try- 
ingf    We  know  we  must  give  thought  and 


GOD  THE   GIVER  OF  INCREASE.  199 

take  trouble  in  other  things  if  they  are  to 
prosper.  No  reasonable  man  would  neglect 
his  business  and  expect  it  to  flourish.  Are 
we  to  expect  the  soul  to  grow  more  pure  and 
more  true  in  some  miraculous  way,  apart  al- 
together from  human  means!  Do  we  think 
as  much  about  soul  prosperity  as  we  do  about 
the  success  of  our  business,  the  comfort  of  our 
homes,  and  the  general  prosperity  and  pleasure 
of  our  lives  I  Alas,  how  seldom  is  it  so !  And 
yet  all  the  analogy  of  nature  teaches  us  we 
must  not  expect  increase  in  any  region  of  hu- 
man life  apart  from  our  own  earnest  efforts. 

Yet  when  we  have  insisted  on  this  in  the 
fullest  way  the  great  truth  of  the  text  remains : 
that  the  ultimate  source  of  all  increase  is  to  be 
found  in  Grod. 

3.  Paul  may  plant,  ApoUos  may  water ; 
but  God  givetli  the  increase. 

This  is  so  even  in  the  commonest  things  of 
daily  life.  Take  the  ordinary  annual  produce 
of  the  earth :  man  must  plow,  sow,  and  take  all 
the  ordinary  means  which  experience  teaches 
him  to  be  necessary.  Yet  all  human  toil  is  but 
digging  the  channel  through  which  the  stream 
runs  to  his  own  door.  He  does  not  produce 
the  life-giving  water.  The  ultimate  causes 
of  productiveness  are  altogether  beyond  our 
power  to  reach.    Life,  both  in  its  origin  and 


200  THANKSGIVING  SERMONS. 

its  continuance,  is  full  of  mystery  to  us.  We 
toil,  and  generally  our  toil  is  crowned  with 
abundant  growth.  But  sometimes  the  blight, 
the  mildew,  and  the  failure  which  mock  our 
efforts  bring  sharply  home  to  us  the  fact  that 
life  and  increase  are  from  Grod.  So  is  it  in 
business  life.  Two  men  start  together;  the 
conditions  which  promise  success — such  as 
neighborhood,  the  conduct  and  industry  of 
the  men,  and  so  on — seem  precisely  equal. 
Yet,  while  one  man  prospers  in  largest  mea- 
sure, the  other  goes  his  way  to  poverty  and 
forgetfulness  through  the  bankruptcy  court. 
So  it  is,  also,  in  the  rampant  speculation  of 
our  day :  a  few  men  accumulate  great  wealth, 
the  many  are  involved  in  loss  which  brings 
them  face  to  face  with  ruin.  It  is,  of  course, 
true,  as  Shakespeare  says : 

"  There  is  a  tide  in  the  affairs  of  men, 
Which,  taken  at  the  flood,  leads  on  to  fortune ; 
Omitted,  all  the  voyage  of  their  life 
Is  iDOund  in  shallows,  and  in  miseries." 

But  this  only  states  the  fact  without  explain- 
ing it.  The  question  at  the  root  of  the  matter 
is.  What  is  it  that  determines  a  man's  action 
at  the  critical  moment  in  his  history !  What 
gives  the  insight  and  the  courage  which  en- 
able him  to  grasp  the  happy  chance  1    What 


GOD  THE  GIVER  OF  INCREASE.  201 

sends  him  boundmg  on  the  flood  to  fortune  ? 
Or  what  makes  another  hesitate  and  falter  in 
seizing  the  opportunity,  so  that  he  is  swept 
back  by  the  receding  tide  into  the  shallows  of 
difficulty  and  want!  May  not  this  be  Grod, 
the  ruler  of  all,  who  "  doeth  according  to  his 
will,"  who  setteth  up  one  and  putteth  down 
another?  Even  in  the  commonest  things  do 
we  not  see  that  promotion  cometh  neither  from 
the  east  nor  from  the  west  nor  from  the  south  ? 
There  is  no  certain  and  unfailing  way  in  which 
we  can  grasp  success.  Toil  is  ours,  but  in- 
crease is  in  the  hands  of  God. 

God  DOES  give  the  increase  in  all  the  many 
regions  of  human  life.  God  blesses  all  honest, 
humble  toil.  He  crowns  the  plowing  and  the 
sowing  with  the  golden  harvest.  Study  is  re- 
warded with  growth  both  in  our  stores  of 
knowledge  and  also  in  our  mental  power  to 
grasp  the  truth.  So,  also,  all  real  spiritual 
work  is  largely  blessed  by  God.  The  apos- 
tolic church  was  but  as  a  grain  of  mustard- 
seed  in  the  estimation  of  men.  A  few  peas- 
ants and  fishermen  worked  in  quiet,  humble, 
obscure  ways,  preaching  the  cross  and  the 
resurrection.  We  may  make  mistakes  about 
this.  Imagination  weaves  a  fairy-like  spell 
over  the  past ;  it  becomes  a  golden  age  to  us. 
Painters  and  poets  alike  conspire  to  give  us 


202  THANKSGIVING  SERMONS. 

an  ideal  picture  of  it.  A  St.  Peter  and  St. 
Paul  are  represented  with  a  halo  round  the 
head,  as  though  they  went  about  their  daily- 
work  with  some  visible  mark  of  divine  favor 
to  distinguish  them  from  their  fellow-men. 
But  it  was  not  so.  They  did  what  they  could 
in  the  by-ways  of  life.  They  preached  to  a 
few  listeners  in  a  private  house;  to  a  few 
women  by  the  river-side ;  they  disputed  with 
a  few  argumentative  souls  in  the  school  of 
this  philosopher  or  that ;  but  Grod  owned  their 
labor.  As  they  planted  and  watered,  God  gave 
the  increase. 

God  is  ever  near.  Grod  labors  with  us. 
May  we  ever  bear  it  in  mind  in  all  our  work ! 
"When  we  teach  little  children,  when  we  say  a 
few  halting  words  by  the  sick-bed,  it  is  not 
the  human  which  touches  the  soul  and  builds 
up  a  living  faith ;  it  is  Grod  who  energizes  the 
human  and  does  his  own  work  through  our 
instrumentality.  Grod  crowns  our  work  with 
his  all-sufficient  blessing. 

It  is  true  in  all  ways.  In  the  personal  soul 
our  religious  acts,  in  public  worship  and  in 
sacraments,  as  well  as  in  private  devotion,  are 
planting  and  watering ;  but  faithfully  used,  a 
richer  divine  life  will  possess  us,  for  God  will 
give  the  increase  and  there  will  be  a  sure 
growth  in  righteousness.    In  the  church  at 


A  LAND   OF  PLENTY.  203 

home  let  us  work,  and,  God  helping  us,  men 
shall  be  brought  out  of  darkness  into  his  mar- 
velous light.  Let  us  pray  and  give  to  the 
church  abroad ;  so  strength  will  come  for  the 
high  warfare.  The  shadows  of  debased  hea- 
thenism will  give  way  before  the  unsullied  light 
of  the  truth.  Men  who  have  lived  but  an  ani- 
mal life  will  learn  to  realize  the  meaning  and 
dignity  of  their  manhood.  Christ  will  be 
known,  followed,  loved. 

How  great  a  lesson  is  here !  May  we  all 
seek  to  learn  it,  and  so  shape  our  personal  life 
and  our  church  work  that  Grod's  increase  may 
spring  up  in  us  and  around  us,  in  high,  abid- 
ing gifts,  forever  to  enrich  and  bless  us ! 


A  LAND  FLOWING  WITH  MILK 
AND  HONEY. 

BY  THE  EEV.  GOEDON  CALTHROP. 

"And  they  told  him,  and  said,  We  came  unto  the  land 
whither  thou  sentest  us,  and  surely  it  floweth  with  milk  and 
honey ;  and  this  is  the  fruit  of  it." — Num.  xiii.  27. 

The  Israelites  were  now  on  the  border  of  the 
Promised  Land.  They  had  now  the  prize  be- 
fore them — almost,  as  it  seemed,  within  their 
grasp — but  they  had  to  fight  for  it. 


204  THANKSGWING  SERMONS. 

At  this  juncture  the  Lord  directed  Moses  to 
select  twelve  suitable  men — one  out  of  each 
tribe,  men  of  standing,  "  rulers  " — and  to  send 
them  to  explore  the  land.  Moses  did  so,  and 
the  men  were  dispatched  on  the  perilous  er- 
rand, having  received  special  injunctions  to 
bring  back  with  them  "of  the  fruit  of  the 
land." 

After  the  lapse  of  forty  days  they  returned 
to  make  their  report.  The  search  had  been 
thorough  and  exhaustive,  and  the  report  was 
favorable,  as  far  as  the  beauty  of  the  scenery 
and  the  bounty  of  the  soil  were  concerned; 
but  from  another  point  of  view  unfavorable, 
for  ten  out  of  the  twelve  men  unhesitatingly 
declared  that  the  conquest  of  the  country  was 
simply  impossible  for  them.  What  murmur- 
ing their  declaration  led  to,  and  what  sad  con- 
sequences followed,  you  will,  of  course,  remem- 
ber. But  with  this  part  of  the  narrative  we 
are  not  concerned.  We  ^x  our  attention  on 
the  fact  that  those  who  had  visited  the  land 
brought  back  with  them  specimens,  so  to 
speak,  of  the  produce — evidences  of  its  mar- 
velous fertility. 

The  idea  thus  suggested  is  that  the  true 
disciples  of  the  Lord  Jesus  are  expected  to 
show  to  the  ivorld  some  illustration  of  the  nature 
of  the  heavenly  country  to  which  they  are  jour- 


A  LAND   OF  PLENTY.  205 

neying.    In  a  sense  they  have  been  there  and 
have  come  back.     But  in  what  sense  ! 

1.  The  idea  with  many  persons  is  that  the 
future  condition  of  man  is  so  completely 
diflPerent  from  this  that  it  is  out  of  the  ques- 
tion to  attempt  to  form  a  conception  of  it. 
Heaven,  they  think,  is  absolutely  unlike  earth. 
It  may  be  well  "  to  go  to  heaven,"  as  the  phrase 
is,  when  we  die.  But  they  feel  themselves  very 
much  in  the  dark  as  to  its  enjoyments  and  oc- 
cupations, and  half  suspect  that  there  will  be 
not  very  much  that  is  attractive  about  it  for 
an  ordinary  human  being.  Now  it  is  true,  St. 
Paul  tells  us  that  '^  eye  hath  jiot  seen,  nor  ear 
heard,  neither  have  entered  into  the  heart  of 
man,  the  things  which  God  hath  prepared  for 
them  that  love  him."  But  it  is  also  true,  as 
the  Apostle  goes  on  to  say,  that  "  God  hath 
revealed  them  unto  us  by  his  Spirit."  Some 
people,  then,  are  in  a  position  to  understand 
what  the  heavenly  kingdom  is  like.  They 
have  ideas,  true  ideas,  about  it — foretastes, 
anticipations.  In  fact,  "heaven"  is  really  the 
expansion  and  development  of  a  life  begun 
here  below.  "He  that  hath  the  Son  hath 
life." 

2.  What,  then,  has  the  trne  disciple  to 
show  as  specimens  of  the  produce  of  this 
unseen  and  unknown  country?     Briefly, 


206  THANKSGIVING   SEKMONS. 

the  character  of  Christ  reproduced  in  him  by 
the  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  It  is  faintly, 
imperfectly  reproduced ;  still  it  is  reproduced. 
(See  2  Cor.' i..  21 :  "  Hath  anointed  us.'O  There 
is  the  strength  which  overcometh  the  world, 
the  peace  which  passeth  understanding,  the 
blessedness  of  communion  with  .Grod,  the  soul- 
thirst  for  God  ever  renewed  and  ever  satisfied. 
In  these  things,  and  in  such  as  these,  the  hap- 
piness of  the  future  state  consists.  And  the 
world  can  partly  understand  holiness,  even 
when  it  does  not  sympathize  with  it.  Said 
one,  speaking  of  a  Christian  over  whom  the 
Waves  and,  billows  of  a  great  trouble  were 
breaking,  but  who  bore  himself  bravely  and 
calmly  under  all:  "That  man  has  a  secret;  I 
wonder  what  it  is.  He  has  an  unknown  power 
in  him ;  I  wish  I  possessed  it."  Ah !  the  more 
Christ-like  we  are  the  more  truly  shall  we  bear 
in  our  hands  the  "  fruit "  of  the  better  land. 
The  Christ-like  character  is  the  evidence  of 
heaven's  existence  and  the  guarantee  of  our 
own  complete  possession  of  it  in  the  future. 

3.  It  is  by  the  presentation  of  these 
fruits  of  the  land  that  souls  are  won. 
No  doubt  there  are  some  persons  in  the  world 
to  whom  Christ  and  everything  belonging  to 
Christ  are  only  repulsive ;  and  these  will  scru- 
tinize the  disciple  with  an  unfriendly  eye,  and 


A   LAND   OF   PLENTY.  207 

rejoice  if  ever  they  find,  or  fancy  they  find, 
any  inconsistency  in  his  conduct.  But  there 
are  also  many  others  of  a  different  temper. 
They  are  halting  between  two  opinions.  They 
are  well  disposed,  but  unsettled ;  and  they  look 
at  you,  and  almost  envy  you  for  the  happiness 
and  the  spiritual  power  which  you  seem  to 
them  to  possess,  though  you  in  your  own 
heart  are  so  unsatisfied  with  yourself.  They 
say,  not  of  course  in  words,  but  by  their  feel- 
ings and  manner,  "  Be  Christ  to  us ;  let  us  see 
in  you  and  through  you  what  the  Divine  Mas- 
ter is,  and  how  he  will  treat  us  if  we  venture 
to  apply  to  him ;  "  or,  to  express  it  differently, 
"  Show  us  the  fruits  of  the  heavenly  land  of 
which  you  think  so  much  and  speak  so  much. 
You  are  among  us  as  a  citizen  of  the  heavenly 
city."  (Phil.  iii.  20.)  "  Enable  us  to  gather 
from  your  conduct  what  are  the  characteristics 
of  that  noble  land,  of  that  bright  and  glorious 
companionship." 

And  lastly,  what  is  the  practical  conclusion 
to  be  drawn  from  the  whole  subject  thus  dis- 
cussed !  Surely  it  is  this :  that  we,  who  pro- 
fess to  serve  and  follow  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
should  be  careful  to  recognize  the  responsibil- 
ity laid  upon  us  to  give  a  good  report,  like  Caleb 
and  Joshua,  and  not  a  bad  report,  like  the  ten 
other  spies,  of  the  unseen  land.    We  shall  give 


208  THANKSGIVING   SEEMONS. 

a  bad  report  if  our  lives  are  not  attractive  and 
are  not  consistent;  or  if  we  say,  as  the  ten 
did,  "  Well,  it  is  true  enough  that  the  land  is 
glorious  and  magnificent,  but  the  difficulties 
to  be  overcome  are  so  many,  the  foes  that 
stand  in  the  way  of  occupation  so  powerful, 
that  it  is  useless  to  attempt  to  fight  your  way 
into  it."  We  shall  give  a  good  report  if  our 
characters  glow,  even  feebly,  with  the  inner 
light  of  the  life  of  Christ ;  and  if,  by  deed  as 
well  as  by  word,  we  cry,  "  The  conflict  may  be 
a  formidable  one,  but  it  is  not  too  formid- 
able ; "  and  if  we  trust,  as  we  should  do  and 
may  do,  that  we  shall  be  more  than  conquerors 
through  Him  that  loved  us. 


THE    BREAD    OF    LIFE. 

"I  am  that  bread  of  life."— John  vi.  48. 

We  will  consider  i 

1.  The  demand  made  by  God  of  every- 
body to  whom  the  message  of  salvation 
comes :  "  This  is  the  work  of  Grod,  that  ye  be- 
lieve on  him  whom  ho  hath  sent "  (verse  29). 

2.  The  result  of  compliance  vritli  the 
demand :  Christ  becomes  to  us  "  the  bread  of 
life  "  (verse  51). 


OUR  DAILY  BEEAD.  209 

3,  The  world's  rejection  of  the  de- 
mand: "This  is  a  hard  saying;  who  can 
hear  it!"  (verse  60). 

Granted  that  there  are,  as  indeed  there  must 
be,  difficulties  in  the  Christian  religion — things 
hard  to  be  understood,  problems  for  which  we 
shall  find  no  solution,  at  least  not  in  this  world 
— what  shall  we  gain  by  leaving  Christ? 
Christ  can  do  for  us  what  no  one  else  can. 
No  one  else  has — scarcely  any  one  pretends  to 
have — "the  words  of  eternal  life."  Had  we 
not  better  stay  where  we  are  1  The  Apostle 
Peter  obviously  thought  so.  He  was  puz- 
zled like  the  rest — perplexed,  perhaps ;  for  the 
mordent  even  unsettled.  But  what  did  he 
say!  "Lord,  to  whom  shall  we  go?  thou 
hast  the  words  of  eternal  life.  And  we  be- 
lieve and  are  sure  that  thou  art  that  Christ, 
the  Son  of  the  living  God." 

Shall  we  not  be  moved  with  gratitude 
that  the  bread  of  life  is  so  freely  offered? 


OUR  DAILY  BEEAD. 

"Give  lis  this  day  our  daily  bread." — Matt.  vi.  2. 

From  the  time  of  the  fathers  there  has  been 
diversity  of  opinion  as  to  the  precise  meaning 
of  this  fourth  petition  of  the  Lord's  Prayer. 


210  THANKSGIVING   SEKMONS. 

The  discussion  has  turned  chiefly  upon  the 
significance  of  the  word  bread.  Some  have 
contended  that  by  it  we  are  to  understand 
spiritual  sustenance.  Some,  adopting  another 
shade  of  this  interpretation,  have  referred  it  to 
the  bread  broken  at  the  eucharist,  which  in 
the  early  church  was  administered  every  day. 
Others,  again,  hold  that  in  this  petition  we  ask 
for  the  supply  of  our  temporal  wants.  Others 
have  conjoined  all  the  above  interpretations. 
The  mystical  and  figurative  application  seems 
to  be  over-refined  and  altogether  uncalled  for. 
The  Scriptures  never  hint  that  it  is  beneath 
the  dignity  of  the  Most  High  to  sustain  the  life 
that  now  is  any  more  than  it  was  unworthy  of 
him  to  bestow  it.  Moreover  the  word  bread 
is  never  used  in  the  Bible  to  denote  spiritual 
supplies  without  the  addition  of  some  attri- 
bute, as  "  the  bread  of  life,"  "  the  living  bread 
that  Cometh  down  from  heaven."  On  the  other 
hand  we  often  find  in  Holy  Writ  that  bread 
stands  for  all  kinds  of  nourishment,  and  not 
merely  that  which  is  procured  from  grain.  It 
represents  the  fruit  of  trees,  and  in  one  case 
even  the  milk  of  goats,  for  the  Hebrew  word 
rendered  food  in  our  version  is  literally 
bread.  And  when  Amos  foretells  a  general 
dearth  he  says  that  there  shall  be  a  "  famine 
of   bread."    Inasmuch  as  we  need  clothing 


OUR  DAILY  BREAD.  211 

equally  with  food,  and  as  the  Apostle  exhorts 
us  to  be  content,  having  food  and  raiment,  we 
may  hold  safely  that  in  this  petition  we  beg 
all  that  is  requisite  to  support  our  animal  life 
— all  physical  necessaries. 

How  this  prayer  contrasts  with  those  that 
precede  it !  "  Thy  name,"  "  Thy  kingdom," 
''  Thy  will,"  "  Our  daily  bread  " !  How  infinite 
the  love  that  could  bridge  the  measureless 
space  between  them !  How  deep  the  grati- 
tude such  kindness  should  call  forth  ! 

Mark  liow  tlie  one  petition  of  the  Lord's 
Prayer  for  tliing^s  temporal  is  fenced 
round  by  five  for  tliing^s  eternal.  We 
commence  and  conclude  with  spiritual  mat- 
ters. Let  us  learn  the  comparative  insignifi- 
cance of  worldly  good — that  it  ought  to  be  al- 
together subordinate  and  subservient  to  our 
spiritual  interests.  Many  men  reverse  this 
order:  everything  must  yield  to  the  acquisi- 
tion of  wealth ;  come  what  may  hereafter,  they 
must  be  rich  here.  Let  the  soul  hunger  and 
thirst,  so  that  the  body  be  well  fed.  They 
value  the  treasures  of  earth  which  moth  and 
rust  corrupt  far  more  highly  than  the  treasures 
of  heaven.  It  is  to  be  feared  that  many  Chris- 
tians fall  into  a  somewhat  similar  error.  They 
are  constantly  desponding  about  the  supply  of 
their  daily  wants.     Their  earthly  future  does 


212  THANKSGmNG   SEKMONS. 

not  look  as  bright  as  they  could  wish,  and  they 
allow  a  carking  care  to  take  possession  of  their 
breasts.  Nevertheless  they  can  commit  their 
souls  to  His  keeping,  believing  that  he  is  able 
to  save  them  to  the  uttermost.  An  old  di- 
vine says,  "  "We  can  sooner  trust  God  for  par- 
don than  provision,  for  a  crown  than  a  crust." 
Can  aught  be  more  unreasonable  and  incon- 
sistent ?  He  who  spared  not  his  own  Son  will 
with  him  also  freely  give  us  all  things.  In 
the  very  discourse  of  which  our  text  forms  a 
part  our  Saviour  tells  us  that  our  Heavenly 
Father  knoweth  that  we  have  need  of  all 
these  things  before  we  ask  him ;  and  asks,  with 
a  conclusiveness  that  neither  the  intellect  nor 
the  heart  can  resist,  whether  the  same  God 
that  clothes  the  careless  lilies  in  such  royal 
garb,  and  feeds  the  unanxious  birds  from  day 
to  day,  can  be  forgetful  of  their  wants  who 
confide  in  his  faithfulness  and  obey  his  words. 
He  who  would  provide  and  legislate  for  the 
comfort  of  the  brute  creation,  he  who  feeds 
the  young  ravens  when  they  cry,  he  who  hath 
said,  "  Thou  shalt  not  muzzle  the  ox  when  he 
treadeth  out  the  corn,"  surely  cannot  disdain 
to  interest  himself  in  the  wants  and  necessities 
of  creatures  moral,  intellectual,  and  redeemed. 
Temporal  mercies  are  included  in  the 
covenant  of  grace.     "Thy  bread  shall  be 


OUR  DAILY  BREAD.  213 

given  thee ;  and  thy  water  shall  be  sure."  If 
it  be  ingratitude  not  to  thank  God  for  earthly 
good  it  is  impiety  not  to  trust  him  for  it. 

Christianity  is  as  simple  and  condescending 
as  it  is  mysterious  and  sublime.  "While  con- 
versant with  spiritual  mysteries,  while  an- 
nouncing the  will  of  the  Infinite,  while  unveil- 
ing the  wonders  of  eternity,  it  is  not  unmind- 
ful of  the  present,  and  does  not  overlook  the 
weakness  of  the  flesh.  It  stops  in  the  midst 
of  its  lofty,  momentous,  all-engrossing  topics 
to  consult  our  temporal  necessities  and  to  pity 
our  infirmities ;  to  inquire,  "  Children,  have  ye 
any  meat!"  It  regards  no  human  care,  no 
human  grief,  no  human  want  as  too  trivial  for 
its  attention  and  sympathy.  It  intermeddles 
with  every  bitterness  and  with  every  joy, 
however  domestic,  however  personal,  however 
common,  however  lonely  and  recluse.  Eeligion, 
while  it  introduces  such  infinite  relations,  such 
stupendous  destinies,  will  mingle  with  our  fire- 
side feelings  and  exalt  our  work- day  thoughts. 
Hence  results  much  of  the  pathos  and  sublim- 
ity of  that  passage,  "  The  poor  have  the  gospel 
preached  to  them."  The  educated,  the  philo- 
sophical, the  affluent  cannot  monopolize  this 
noblest  gift,  this  richest  blessing.  The  wis- 
dom that  Cometh  from  above  condescends  to 
men  of  low  estate.    It  is  not  confined  to  the 


214  THANKSGIVING   SEKMONS. 

colleges  of  the  learned  or  the  palaces  of  the 
high-born.  No !  it  loves  to  visit  the  widow 
and  the  fatherless,  to  commune  with  the  sor- 
rowful and  the  poor.  As  the  same  sun  which 
enlightens  and  harmonizes  our  universe,  and 
sustains  the  vegetable  and  animal  world,  dis- 
dains not  to  pour  light  and  gladness  through 
a  cottage  window,  and  to  open  the  rose  that 
graces  a  cottage  door,  so  the  same  holy  truth 
which  proclaims  the  purposes  of  the  Most 
High,  and  reveals  the  secrets  of  the  future, 
engages  to  spread  the  table  of  the  pious  poor, 
and  to  hear  the  cries  of  their  children.  Our 
Lord  acknowledged  and  honored  the  wants  of 
the  body.  This  is  one  lesson  of  the  three 
miracles  of  feeding  the  multitude.  It  would 
have  been  just  as  easy  to  remove  the  cravings 
of  hunger  as  to  satisfy  them. 

Again,  when  we  pray,  "  Give  us  this 
day,"  etc.,  we  acknowledge  tliat  we  are 
entirely  dependent  upon  God  for  our 
supplies.  Though  our  barns  may  be  full, 
though  we  have  abundance  of  oil  and  wine, 
though  our  riches  increase,  yet  we  confess 
that  each  day's  food  is  a  direct  gift  from  God. 
Not  only  does  he  give  us  power  to  get  wealth, 
but  also  to  use  it.  We  acknowledge,  too,  that 
we  have  no  merit  on  account  of  which  we  can 
demand  even  daily  bread  at  God's  hands,  nei- 


OUR  DAILY  BREAD.  215 

ther  anything  with  which  we  could  purchase 
it.  Every  creature  is  a  pensioner  upon  God's 
bounty.  All  things  wait  upon  him  who,  "  sea- 
weed and  seraph-life  alike  bestowing,  delight- 
eth  his  vast  family  to  feed ;"  how  much  more, 
then,  we,  whose  sins  silence  our  every  claim ! 
Not  more  truly  were  the  Israelites,  whose 
manna  fell  each  morn,  and  each  eve  grew 
corrupt,  dependent  upon  God  for  food  than 
are  we.  The  sower  scatters  the  seed,  and  God 
commands  his  clouds  that  they  rain  no  rain 
upon  it,  and  the  parched  earth  refuses  to  yield 
the  desired  harvest.  Or,  o'er  many  a  fruitful 
acre  appears  the  green  promise  of  an  abundant 
return,  and  the  sun  hides  his  face,  and  the 
heavy  clouds  deluge  the  ground,  and  the  ears 
miss  their  perfection.  Or,  one  day  hill  and 
dale  bristle  with  golden  grain,  and  the  next, 
blighted  at  God's  word,  the  black  ears  mock 
the  hopes  they  raised  before.  Or,  God  lays 
his  hands  upon  our  cattle,  and  we  have  a  very 
grievous  murrain  among  our  herds  and  flocks. 
"Man  doth  not  live  by  bread  alone,  but  by 
every  word  that  proceedeth  out  of  the  mouth 
of  God  " — this  is  a  lesson  God  will  have  men 
learn. 

liook  at  the  limitations  by  which  this 
prayer  is  guartled.  "  This  day  " — "  day  by 
day."    We  do  not  ask  for  goods  laid  up  for 


216  THANKSGIVING  SERMONS. 

many  years,  but  for  the  portion  of  a  day  in  its 
day.  Thus  are  we  cautioned  against  a  grasp- 
ing spirit,  against  the  attempt  so  to  heap  up 
treasures  as  to  be  independent  of  Grod's  bounty. 
Many  would  rather  pray,  '^  Give  me  each  year 
my  yearly  bread."  That  would  soon  change 
to  "  Give  me  at  once  my  life's  portion."  And 
the  next  thing  would  be,  when  we  had  eaten 
and  were  full,  we  should  forget  the  Lord  our 
God.  It  is  better  as  it  is.  The  prodigal,  who 
took  at  once  the  portion  of  goods  that  fell  to 
him,  immediately  left  his  father's  house.  We 
are  kept  at  home  by  our  dependence.  Being 
fed  from  day  to  day,  we  have  certain  provision 
for  the  future  without  present  care. 

"  Our  daily  bread."  We  need  not  now  dis- 
cuss the  multitude  of  meanings  that  have  been 
assigned  to  the  word  here  rendered  daily. 
The  most  probable  signification  is  "  sufficient 
for  our  being."  However  we  interpret  it  this 
limitation  plainly  was  intended  to  inculcate 
moderation  and  contentment — two  essential 
graces  of  the  Christian  character,  and  also  two 
virtues  enjoined  by  natural  morality.  A  well- 
governed  mind  will  always  endeavor  to  con- 
tract its  desires  within  the  bounds  which  na- 
ture and  Providence  have  drawn  for  it.  A 
subdued  and  contented  spirit  especially  be- 
comes Christians.    We  are  strangers  and  pil- 


OUR  DAILY  BREAD.  217 

grims  upon  earth,  and  should  show  by  our  en- 
tire spirit  and  deportment  that  we  seek  a  better 
country,  that  is,  a  heavenly.  Having  food  and 
raiment  suited  to  our  condition,  and  sufficient 
for  those  who  rightly  look  to  us  for  their  sup- 
plies, let  us  be  therewith  content.  Whatsoever 
we  have  more  than  this  let  us  hold  it  as  though 
we  possessed  it  not.  It  is  beyond  the  terms  of 
the  agreement,  and  He  who  graciously  gave 
may  as  graciously  take  away.  Let  us  bow  to 
his  dispensations  with  lowly  thankfulness. 
Let  not  us,  the  eyes  of  whose  understand- 
ing the  Holy  Spirit  hath  enlightened,  rush 
into  the  common  blunder  of  the  world,  which 
confounds  the  two  notions  of  riches  and  hap- 
piness— things  in  themselves  so  widely  differ- 
ent and  in  fact  so  generally  separate.  "A 
man's  life" — the  reality  and  happiness  of  a 
man's  life — "  consisteth  not  in  the  abundance 
of  the  things  which  he  possesseth."  The  demon 
of  discontent  haunts  the  couches  of  luxury, 
while  it  finds  no  ingress  into  the  cottages  of 
industry,  temperance,  and  prayer. 

"  Our  daily  bread,"  i.e.,  the  bread  which  is 
ours  by  right,  legal  and  moral ;  which  we  have 
obtained  fairly,  without  dishonesty  or  oppres- 
sion. We  must  not  wrong  our  fellow-men, 
nor  even  deal  harshly  or  hardly  with  them. 
Wealth  gotten  in  this  way  is  not  ours — it  be- 


218  THANKSGIVING  SERMONS. 

longs  to  those  we  have  robbed.    It  has  not 
been  given  by  God,  but  stolen  by  us. 

Again,  we  may  gather  from  this  word  our 
that  we  may  pray  for,  and  in  the  general  ex- 
pect, such  temporal  supplies  as  that  rank  in 
society  which  Providence  has  allotted  to  us 
indispensably  requires,  that  we  may  be  able 
to  satisfy  the  demands  not  only  of  necessity, 
but  of  decency  and  propriety.  Thus  the 
phrase  our  daily  bread  encourages  us  for  a 
continuance  of  those  comforts  which  educa- 
tion and  habit  have  transformed  into  necessi- 
ties. But  it  should  also  teach  us  to  avoid  envy 
because  some  whom  we  may  regard  as  less  de- 
serving than  ourselves  are  more  wealthy  and 
prosperous  than  we.  If  we  use  this  petition 
with  the  spirit  and  with  the  understanding 
also,  we  shall  deprecate  luxury  on  the  one 
hand  as  well  as  extreme  poverty  on  the  other. 
"Give  me,"  entreats  the  thoughtful  Agur, 
"neither  poverty  nor  riches;  feed  me  with 
food  convenient  for  me:  lest  I  be  full,  and 
deny  thee,  and  say.  Who  is  the  Lord  ?  or  lest 
I  be  poor,  and  steal,  and  take  the  name  of  my 
God  in  vain."  The  two  extremes  of  luxury 
and  penury  are  equally  injurious  to  the  phys- 
ical and  to  the  spiritual  health.  Want  pro- 
duces weakness  and  pain,  and  tends  strongly 
to   discontent,   dishonesty,   and  disregard  of 


THE   EARTH   A  TEACHER.  219 

laws  human  and  divine.  Luxury  is  scarcely- 
less  harmful  to  the  body,  and  it  tempts  might- 
ily to  arrogance,  both  toward  the  Most  High 
and  toward  the  poor — two  evils  which  are  sel- 
dom found  apart  from  each  other.  He  that 
feareth  not  Grod  regardeth  not  man. 

Once  more,  in  this  word  our  we  have  a 
powerful  protest  against  a  spirit  of  selfishness 
and  a  great  incentive  to  charity.  Thus  in- 
cluding ourselves  in  the  multitude  of  God's 
pensioners,  our  exclusiveness  must  give  place 
to  sympathy.  And  when  we  pray  that  others 
may  have  all  that  is  requisite  for  their  bodily 
comfort,  we  pledge  ourselves  to  do  our  part 
toward  procuring  these  things  for  them.  We 
beg  Grod  to  provide  for  them ;  but  if  we  have 
wealth  we  are  the  stewards  of  God's  property, 
and  are  bound  to  be  his  almoners. 


THE  EAETH  A  TEACHER. 

"Speak  to  the  earth,  and  it  shall  teach  thee." — Job.  xii.  8. 

A  HARVEST  festival  not  only  suggests  to  us 
man's  triumphs  over  nature ;  it  not  only  makes 
us  think  of  the  intellectual  and  moral  insight, 
which,  as  they  can  accomplish  so  much,  we 
are  all  bound  to  use ;  it  leads  us  all  further  still. 


220  THANKSGIVING   SERMONS. 

"  Speak  to  the  earth,  and  it  shall  teach  thee ;  " 
yes,  much  more  than  physical  facts  and  the 
laws  by  which  matter  is  governed. 

1.  It  brings  us  face  to  face  with  insolu- 
ble mystery. 

We  should  try  to  learn  something  of  the 
inner  meaning  of  the  world  and  of  human  life. 
Science  is  busy  mainly  with  the  outward  facts 
with  which  the  senses  can  deal.  It  teaches  us 
about  the  cells  in  vegetable  matter  of  which 
the  plant  is  built  up,  as  the  microscope  reveals 
to  curious  eyes.  It  maps  out  every  bone,  every 
vein,  every  muscle  in  the  wonderful  bodies  of 
men.  It  teaches  the  functions  of  them  all.  It 
analyzes  with  searching  chemical  tests  the  sub- 
stances of  which  the  plant  or  the  flesh  is  com- 
posed. Science  dissects,  analyzes,  but  it  does 
not  grasp  the  thing  itself.  It  is  easy,  for  ex- 
ample, to  describe  a  battery  or  a  telegraphic 
wire,  but  what  the  mysterious  electricity  is 
which  flies  with  lightning-like  speed,  who  can 
tell?  Look,  for  example,  at  Professor  Tyn- 
dall's  well-known  little  book  on  electricity. 
It  asks  the  question,  "What  is  electricity?" 
I  turn  to  that  with  great  interest,  because  it 
is  the  very  thing  I  want  to  know.  But  it  is 
somewhat  disappointing  reading.  It  tells  me 
"  it  was  by  the  exercise  of  the  scientific  imag- 
ination that  Franklin  devised  the  theory  of  a 


THE  EAETH  A  TEACHEE.  221 

single  electric  fluid  to  explain  electrical  phe- 
nomena. ...  It  was  by  the  exercise  of  the 
same  faculty  that  Symmer  devised  the  theory 
of  two  electric  fluids,  each  self -repulsive,  but 
both  mutually  attractive."  Then  the  last  para- 
graph of  the  section  tells  me  that  "  this  theory 
of  electric  fluids  is  doubted  by  many  eminent 
scientific  men."  It  is  quite  clear  that  the 
learned  professor's  answer  to  the  question, 
"What  is  electricity?"  might  have  been  ex- 
pressed even  more  briefly,  in  the  four  simple 
words  "  I  do  not  know." 

The  same  thing  meets  us  everywhere.  Look 
at  the  human  ear.  What  an  exquisite  piece  of 
machinery !  How  wonderful  is  the  tiny  drum, 
which  quivers  with  every  sound  that  strikes 
it !  but  more  wonderful  still  is  it,  not  only  that 
each  separate  sound  sets  it  in  motion  in  a  dif- 
ferent way,  but  that  it  hears,  that  the  sound 
passes  from  the  drum  to  the  brain,  to  the  liv- 
ing consciousness.  Who  can  explain  that? 
Take  the  eye,  "  with  all  its  marvelously  per- 
fect attributes,"  "  with  all  its  inimitable  con- 
trivances for  adjusting  the  focus  to  different 
distances."  But  the  greatest  wonder  is,  not 
how  the  picture  of  the  external  thing  is  printed, 
exact  in  shape  and  color,  on  the  little  black  cur- 
tain at  the  back,  but  that  it  sees,  that  the  pic- 
ture is  conveyed  to  the  consciousness.    It  is 


222  THANKSGIVING  SEKMONS. 

said  that  if  you  took  out  the  eye  of  a  man  or 
an  animal  and  held  it  up  before  any  object — a 
house  or  a  tree,  for  instance — the  picture  of 
that  house  or  tree  would  be  printed  on  the 
back  of  the  eye,  but  the  eye  would  not  see  it, 
because  it  is  cut  off  from  the  living  brain  and 
from  the  consciousness. 

Why  is  there  such  a  thing  as  consciousness  ? 
Why  is  it  that  a  little  nervous  matter  in  the 
cavity  of  a  human  skull  can  think !  How  is 
it  that,  through  the  action  of  certain  muscles, 
it  can  set  in  motion  waves  of  sound  which 
transmit  what  it  thinks  to  the  nervous  matter 
which  thinks  in  the  skulls  of  other  men  !  Who 
can  explain  this  I  No  man.  It  is  profoundest 
mystery.  It  is  not  only  a  mystery  to  us  who 
perhaps  have  never  made  any  special  study  of 
science ;  it  is  just  as  much  a  mystery  to  the 
most  cultured  scientific  man  as  it  is  to  the 
humblest  man  of  intelligence  who  tries  to 
think  at  all  about  the  problems  of  life. 

Speak  to  the  earth,  and  it  shall  teach 
you  this.  It  teaches  humility  to  every 
man.  The  meanest  flower  has  in  it  a  mystery 
beyond  all  that  the  most  powerful  microscope 
and  the  subtlest  chemical  tests  can  reveal. 
Patient,  teachable,  humble — these  words  de- 
scribe the  true  attitude  for  man  when  face  to 
face  with  the  world ;  not  the  impudent  dogma- 


THE  EARTH  A  TEACHEE.  223 

tism  which  struts  and  brags  and  asserts  and 
insists  that  its  latest  guess  must  of  necessity 
be  an  eternal  law  of  the  universe. 

The  earth  brings  us  face  to  face  with  insolu- 
ble mystery.  Have  we  thought  much  about 
it  ?  Have  we  tried  to  sound  with  the  plummet 
of  human  knowledge  and  found  that  we  can- 
not reach  the  bottom  I  Science  has  its  limits ; 
do  we  believe  that  the  end  of  our  tether  is  but 
the  beginning  of  infinite  vastness  1  Have  we 
ever,  recognizing  this,  fallen  down  in  lowly, 
reverent  worship  at  the  foot  of  those  altar 
stairs  which  slope  through  darkness  up  to 
God! 

"  Speak  to  the  earth,  and  it  shall  teach  thee." 

See  its  abounding^  beauty  and  produce. 
It  is  a  world  which  appeals  to  a  man's  imagi- 
nation as  well  as  supplies  his  wants.  It  clothes 
and  feeds  his  body.  A  table  is  spread  before 
us  in  the  wilderness,  as  we  toil  and  strive. 
The  bounty  never  fails.  Our  cup  runneth 
over.  The  earth  teaches  us  that  the  mysteri- 
ous power  which  has  constituted  it  is  bounte- 
ous and  good.  The  birds  of  the  air  are  fed  by 
it,  and  by  it,  too,  the  flowers  of  the  field  are 
invested  with  their  marvelous  beauty. 

When  we  put  these  things  together — the 
mystery,  the  productiveness,  the  beauty,  and 
the  unity  of  nature — they  lead  us  to  the  old 


224  THANKSGIVING   SEKMONS. 

conclusion:  the  earth  witnesses  to  Ood. 

Nature  testifies  to  the  supernatural.  Nature 
is  at  once  a  fact  and  a  parable.  It  conceals 
Grod  behind  the  working  of  what  we  call  nat- 
ural laws,  and  yet  when  we  seek  to  probe  those 
natural  laws  to  their  depth  they  reveal  his  di- 
vine personality.  "  For  the  invisible  things  of 
him  from  the  creation  of  the  world  are  clearly 
seen,  being  understood  by  the  things  that  are 
made,  even  his  eternal  power  and  Godhead." 
God,  in  the  greatness  of  his  power,  is  loving 
and  gracious  to  us.  He  does  good ;  he  gives 
us  "  rain  from  heaven,  and  fruitful  seasons, 
filling  our  hearts  with  food  and  gladness." 
He  does  this  age  after  age,  and  the  continu- 
ous gifts  witness  to  his  unchanging  love. 

The  earth  is  a  teacher.  We  may  bring 
its  lessons  yet  closer  home  to  us.  We  may 
learn  not  only  from  the  stars  in  their  courses, 
which  are  so  vast,  so  magnificent,  and  yet  so 
distant  that  the  telescope  cannot  magnify 
them ;  not  only  from  the  earth,  with  its  pro- 
duce and  its  hidden  wealth,  or  from  the  sea, 
with  its  beauty  and  its  majestic  force,  but  from 
our  own  nature.  There  is  not  only  the  body, 
which  is  so  fearfully  and  wonderfully  made, 
but  those  higher  things:  the  sense  of  duty — 
the  voice  within  which  says,  "I  ought,"  "I 
ought   not;"    the   conscience,   which   calmly 


THE  EAKTH  A  TEAOHEK.  225 

points  the  way  through  self-sacrifice  and  suf- 
fering, even  to  the  martyr's  doom,  rather  than 
flinch  a  hair's-breadth  from  the  path ;  yes,  and 
the  sense  of  the  everlasting,  too,  that  bound- 
less yearning  in  the  soul  which  neither  life 
nor  death  can  quench,  the  gleaming  light  of 
another  world  which  shines  within  the  soul. 
Where  do  these  things  come  from  ?  The  sense 
of  duty,  conscience,  the  belief  in  the  everlast- 
ing— are  they  the  product  of  dead  atoms  ?  Do 
they  come  from  nothing  but  carbon  and  phos- 
phorus ? 

Face  such  thoughts.  They  are  part  of  those 
priceless  gifts  which  make  up  the  heritage  and 
the  responsibility  of  man.  Let  us  count  up 
our  mercies  this  Thanksgiving  season.  May 
the  remembrance  of  them  brace  our  souls  in 
faith  and  hope,  that  we  may  live  more  worthy 
of  our  high  calling.  Are  we  striving  to  do 
this  ?  Do  we  think  of  the  mystery  and  mean- 
ing of  life?  With  how  many  of  us  are  its 
yearnings  and  powers  stifled  by  the  thronging, 
jangling  interests  of  to-day !  With  how  many 
the  higher  part  is  covered  with  the  dust  of 
neglect ;  is  drugged,  torpid,  dead ! 

"  Speak  to  the  earth,  and  it  shall  teach  thee." 
You  must  speak  if  the  lessons  it  has  to 
teach  are  to  be  impressed  upon  you.  You 
must  seek  to  learn  if  you  would  possess  her 


226  THANKSGIVING   SEKMONS. 

truth.  She  is  a  teacher,  but  she  does  not  force 
her  lessons  on  unwilling  scholars.  The  earth 
will  teach  you.  The  palace  is  vast  indeed ;  the 
treasures  within  are  beyond  all  price,  they 
gleam  in  the  everlasting  light.  But  the  door 
seems  to  be  shut.  What  is  written  over  it! 
"  Ask,  and  ye  shall  receive ;  seek,  and  ye  shall 
find ;  knock,  and  it  shall  be  opened  unto  you." 
Active,  persevering  interest  in  quest  of  truth 
and  righteousness  is  the  characteristic  of  the 
true  Christian  man.  Strive  to-day  to  begin 
in  earnest  to  learn  the  meaning  and  nature  of 
life,  and  then  our  Thanksgiving  will  be  a  bless- 
ing indeed ;  a  blessing  to-day,  a  blessing  for- 
ever! 


THE   SPRINaiNG  FORTH  OF  EiaHT- 

EOUSNESS. 

BY  THE  REV.  A.  H.  VINE. 

"  For  as  the  earth  bringeth  forth  her  bud,  and  as  the  garden 
causeth  the  things  that  are  sown  in  it  to  spring  forth ;  so  the 
Lord  God  will  cause  righteousness  and  praise  to  spring  forth 
before  all  the  nations." — Isa.  Ixi.  11. 

It  is  a  great  act  that  God  performs  before 
our  eyes  during  the  spring  and  summer  of  our 
year;  and  we  shall  see  it  many  more  times. 
We  are  exhilarated ;  but  our  animal  pleasure 


SPRINGING  FORTH   OF  RIGHTEOUSNESS.    227 

is  not  enough  for  the  celebration  of  this  won- 
derful season,  with  its  reminiscence  of  the  first 
creation  and  its  promise  of  the  second.  Grod 
seems  to  come  forth  from  his  pavilion  of  dark 
waters  and  thick  clouds  of  the  skies,  and  stand 
in  the  open  and  say,  "  Behold,  I  make  all  things 
new." 

I.  It  is  a  manifestation  that  we  see — a 
mystery  hidden  during  the  winter  months  is 
fleing  revealed ;  there  is  a  breaking  into  visi- 
bility everywhere  of  that  which  had  been  in- 
visible. As  nature  hides  and  then  reveals,  "  so 
the  Lord  will  cause  righteousness  and  praise 
to  spring  forth." 

1,  It  is  a  g^reat  manifestation  of  power 
that  we  see. 

We  more  readily  associate  God's  power  with 
vast  convulsions,  but  this  is  the  continuously 
working  and  gentle  power  of  the  Most  High. 

Mark  the  consummate  ease  with  which  all  is 
done ;  there  is  no  appearance  of  effort.  "  The 
earth  bringeth  forth  fruit  of  herself."  There 
is  no  sound. 

Yet  not  a  sheath  is  split,  not  a  flower  starts 
from  the  earth,  but  it  is  moved  to  do  so  by 
some  power.  It  obeys  without  a  word.  It 
seems  irrational  to  dissociate  power  and  per- 
sonality, for  it  is  inconceivable  that  power, 
apart  from  personality,  should  have  any  regu- 


228  THANKSGIVINa  SEEMONS. 

lation  at  all.  We  may  reasonably  think,  there- 
fore, as  the  centurion  did  when  he  came  to 
Christ  and  said,  "  Trouble  not  thyself  to  enter 
my  house;  for  all  things  are  thy  servants  to 
command." 

2.  Again,  is  not  this  putting  forth  of 
leaves  a  great  manifestation  of  mind  ? 

Suppose  we  discard  the  word  design  and  ac- 
cept the  word  adaptation,  do  we  escape  from 
the  suggestion  of  mental  action?  It  is  not 
possible  to  describe  the  facts  as  they  appear 
to  us  without  using  language  that  implies  ad- 
justment by  means  of  mind. 

Take  an  instance:  there  is  a  plant  of  the 
orchid  genus  (BaryantJies),  the  lower  lip  of 
which  is  hollowed  out  into  a  large  basin,  into 
which  drops  of  moisture  fall  from  two  horns 
of  the  flower  that  project  over.  When  the 
basin  of  the  flower  is  half  full  the  overflow  is 
drained  by  a  spout  on  one  side  of  the  flower. 
The  top  of  the  lip  so  hollowed  out  curls  over 
the  basin,  and  is  marked  by  certain  fleshy 
ridges,  which  the  bees  are  fond  of  gnawing. 
In  doing  so,  crowding  one  upon  another,  they 
frequently  fall  into  the  water  below,  and  are 
obliged  to  make  their  exit  by  the  overflow- 
pipe.  Now,  as  they  crawl  out  by  this  passage 
they  brush  their  backs  first  against  a  point  of 
the  flower  which  secretes  a  thick  juice,  and 


SPRINGING  FOETH   OF  RIGHTEOUSNESS.    229 

then  against  other  points  covered  with  the 
down  or  pollen  of  the  flower,  so  that  their 
backs  are  covered  with  it. 

When,  after  their  escape,  they  visit  another 
flower,  or,  as  frequently  happens,  the  same 
again,  and,  as  frequently  happens,  with  the 
same  mischance,  they  make  their  escape  as 
before.  But  now  their  down-covered  backs 
brush  against  the  point  of  the  flower  covered 
with  juice,  the  down  is  left  adhering,  and  the 
flower  is  fertilized !  So  curious  is  the  arrange- 
ment that  Mr.  Darwin  says  ("Origin  of  Spe- 
cies," p.  229) :  "  The  most  ingenious  man,  if  he 
had  not  witnessed  what  takes  place,  could 
never  have  imagined  what  purpose  all  the 
parts  of  the  flower  served."  Can  we  persuade 
ourselves  that  mind  has  nothing  to  do  with 
these  adjustments  1     If  not — whose  mind  ? 

3.  It  is  sonietliiii^  more  than  mind  that 
is  manifested  in  the  heauty  of  natui'e. 
Beauty  is  only  visible  to  reason,  indeed  to  the 
higher  kind  of  reason.  Your  horse  sees  noth- 
ing of  the  beauty  of  the  landscape ;  your  dog 
despises  your  flowers.  The  images  of  all  these 
things  are  reflected  on  their  eyes  as  on  yours, 
but  they  produce  no  emotion.  So  that  in  na- 
ture, it  seems,  special  provision  is  made  for  the 
peculiar  gratification  of  the  higher  mind  of 
man.     Surely  it  must  be  reason  that  thus  ad- 


230  THANKSGIVING   SEKMONS. 

dresses  itself  to  reason,  and,  if  reason,  then 
benevolence. 

The  mind  of  man  and  the  gracious  mind  of 
God  meet  consciously  or  unconsciously  in  the 
beauty  of  the  world,  so  far  as  it  is  apprehended. 

II.  The  proijhet  sees  in  this  the  parable 
of  another  manifestation — "  So  the  Lord 
Grod,"  etc. — a  great  moral  and  spiritual 
manifestation.  It  is  pathetic  that  he  should 
maintain  this  faith  throughout  the  "  winter  of 
his  discontent." 

May  we  then  consider  that  forces  are  gath- 
ering, through  long  centuries,  that  will  by  and 
by  break  into  visibility,  and  even  suddenly  ? 

This  is  a  striking  and  a  charming  passage. 
Once  in  a  year  this  visible  earth  manifests  its 
hidden  powers ;  "  then  the  leaves  come  out,  and 
the  blossoms  on  the  fruit-trees ;  the  flowers  and 
the  grass  and  corn  spring  up.  There  is  a  rush 
and  burst  outwardly  of  the  hidden  life  which 
God  has  lodged  in  the  material  world.  So 
shall  it  be  one  day  with  the  invisible  world  of 
light  and  glory,  when  God  gives  the  word.  A 
world  of  saints  and  angels,  a  glorious  world, 
the  palace  of  God,  the  mount  of  the  Lord  of 
hosts,  the  heavenly  Jesus,  the  throne  of  God 
and  Christ — all  these  wonders,  everlasting,  all- 
precious,  mysterious,  incomprehensible,  lie  hid 
in  what  we  see.    What  we  see  is  the  outward 


A  BEGGAR  IN   HAKVEST.  231 

shell  of  an  eternal  kingdom,  and  on  tliat  king- 
dom we  fix  the  eyes  of  our  faith."     (Newman.) 

And  what  saith  the  Scripture?  "As  the 
rain  cometh  down,  and  the  snow  from  heaven," 
etc.  That  is,  all  spiritual  influences  are  trea- 
sured up,  and  there  is  a  conservation  of  spir- 
itual force  as  of  natural. 

But  the  preparation  is  long,  as  the  winter 
that  precedes  the  spring. 

How  great  the  joy  of  knowing  that  we  may 
help  to  provide  or  strengthen  the  forces  of  the 
world's  true  vernal  hour !  What  happiness  to 
sow  the  seeds  of  light  and  peace ! 

III.  Finally,  remember  that  we  shall  be 
mianifested.  (2  Cor.  v.  10.)  Forces  are  gath- 
ering within  us.  When  we  "  awake,"  may  our 
surprise,  even  in  respect  of  ourselves^  be  like 
that  with  which  we  look  upon  the  new  hea- 
vens and  the  new  earth ! 


A    BEaaAE    IN    HARVEST. 

BY  THE  REV.  G.  A.  BENNETTS,  B.A. 

"  The  sluggard  will  not  plow  by  reason  of  the  cold ;  there- 
fore shall  he  begin  harvest,  and  have  nothing." — Prov.  xx.  4. 

Introduction. — No  life  is  really  secular. 
Plowing  and  sowing  and  mowing  are  a  part 


232  THANKSGIVING  SEBMONS. 

of  the  divine  appointment  for  our  life;  and 
prudence  in  relation  to  these  things  is  a  Chris- 
tian virtue.  The  sanctification  of  our  labor 
for  the  bread  that  perisheth  is  one  of  the  pur- 
poses of  our  holy  religion,  and  the  inculcation 
of  industry  and  prudence  in  earthly  business 
is  a  part  of  the  duty  of  the  Christian  minister. 
The  Book  of  Proverbs  tells  us  in  no  measured 
terms  how  great  a  sinner  the  lazy  man  is ;  nor 
is  the  Book  of  Proverbs  alone  in  its  denunci- 
ation of  idleness.  (See  also  1  Pet.  ii.  18,  19 ; 
Eph.  vi.  5-8 ;  1  Tim.  v.  8 ;  2  Thess,  iii.  7-12.) 
But  the  principles  set  forth  in  our  text  in  re- 
lation to  earthly  business  have  also  their  appli- 
cation to  the  spiritual  life. 

1.  Human  cooperation  is  necessary  in 
the  beginning's  of  the  religions  life.  If  a 
man  would  reap  a  rich  spiritual  harvest  he 
must  plow.  God  does  not  save  men,  as  a  rule, 
by  sudden  movements  of  his  Spirit  upon  their 
souls  without  their  co5peration  with  him. 
Spiritual  plowing  consists  of  self-examina- 
tion in  the  light  of  God's  Word,  followed  by 
self-condemnation,  the  confession  and  renun- 
ciation of  sin,  and  the  other  exercises  of  re- 
pentance. 

2.  Plowing"  stands  in  the  text  as  the 
representative  of  all  the  labors  of  agri- 
culture  in  preparation  for  the  harvest. 


A  BEGGAK  IN   HARVEST.  233 

Human  cooperation  in  the  divine  life  is  ne- 
cessary all  the  way  from  the  beginnings  of 
penitence  np  to  the  throne  of  glory. 

3.  The  text  teaches  not  only  the  ne- 
cessity for  diligence  bnt  for  courage.  The 
sluggard  was  afraid  of  the  cold.  Courage  is 
one  of  the  chief  virtues.  Cowardice  is  inex- 
cusable in  a  soldier  of  Jesus  Christ.  Alas, 
what  little  things  daunt  some  professors  of 
religion !  A  sneer  will  make  a  man  resign  all 
his  offices  in  the  church  and  retire  into  sulky 
indolence !  In  the  divine  life  "  the  struggle 
for  existence  "  is  a  stern  reality ;  and  when  the 
roll  of  true  heroes  comes  to  be  read  it  will  be 
seen  that  the  heroes  of  faith  have  dared  greater 
dangers  and  shown  more  valor  than  those  who 
have  marched  to  victory  through  a  storm  of 
shot  and  shell. 

4.  The  plowing  must  be  done  at  the 
right  season.  It  would  be  of  no  use  for  the 
sluggard  to  bring  out  his  plow  and  yoke  his 
horses  to  it  when  other  men  are  going  to  reap 
their  grain.  Youth  is  the  best  time  for  plow- 
ing.    In  any  case  there  is  no  hope  after  death. 

5.  Note  the  sad  picture — a  beggar  in 
harvest.  See,  the  harvest-wagons  are  com- 
ing home !  The  air  is  filled  with  the  joyous 
shouts  of  the  harvesters !  When,  lo  !  our  eyes 
light  on  a  miserable  object,  Mr.   Sluggard! 


234  TilANKSCiJ VINCI    SKKMUNS. 

He  would  not  woi-k,  so  now  Ik^  Ix^^s !  JTe  tvlll 
have  nollunfj  in  harvest.  Wluui  oilieivs  shall  re- 
joice in  plenty,  ho  will  wail  in  eternal  penury. 


A  TIIANKBOTVlNa  DAY. 

"Thou  lio  HJiid  unto  l.lioni,  Oo  your  way,  oat  tlu>  fat,  and 
driuk  iho  HW(»ot,  aud  Hcnid  portiouH  uuto  tlu^m  for  whom 
nothing  is  preparod :  for  tliis  day  is  holy  unto  our  liord." — 
Noh.  viii.  10. 

Nehemiaii  was  brou<i^lit  up  a  captive  and  a 
servant;  but  luwlisplayed  a  kiiigliness  worthy 
of  that  royal  house  of  David  from  whence  he 
sprang,  lie  never  fought  a  battle,  but  he 
displayed  resolution,  courage,  and  pi'udence. 
Sti'ange  abod(3S  were  the  palaces  of  the  l^ersian 
kings  to  men  of  high  heart  and  pure  life. 
These  nionarchs  W(^re  treated  as  gods  rather 
than  men.  Only  seven  nobles  coidd  obtain 
free  admission  to  their  presence ;  their  decrees 
were  irrevocable;  their  summons  could  bring 
millions  to  march  at  tlieir  comniaiid.  Arta- 
xerxes  was  on  the  throne,  said  to  be  the  son  of 
a  Jewish  captive,  probably  of  Esther,  whose 
heroism  savcxl  lu^r  nation.  He  had  a  kindly 
feeling  toward  the  Jews.  He  saw  his  cup- 
bearer Nehemiah  looking  sad  and  dejected; 
he  asked  what   ailed   him.     Nehemiah  had 


A  THANKSGIVING  DAY.  235 

heard  a  lamentable  account:  Jerusalem  was 
beset  with  enemies;  the  Bedouin  robbers 
swarmed,  and  gathered  the  crops  as  soon  as 
ripe;  the  mongrel  race  at  Samaria  had  tried 
to  unite  with  the  Jews ;  Ezra  had  refused,  fear- 
ing the  corruption ;  they  had  consequently  be- 
come bitter  foes  of  the  Jews,  maligning  them 
to  each  new  king,  and  interfering  with  the  res- 
toration of  the  city ;  they  had  persuaded  the 
king  that  if  the  walls  were  restored  the  Jews 
would  rebel;  the  high  priest  was  a  Moabite, 
the  temple  service  corrupted,  the  walls  dis- 
mantled, the  tombs  desecrated.  Nehemiah 
grieved,  wept,  and  prayed  over  these  calam- 
ities for  months.  He  replies  to  the  king 
(chap.  ii.  3) :  "  Let  the  king  live  forever :  why 
should  not  my  countenance  be  sad,  when  the 
city,"  etc.  The  king  listens  graciously :  "  For 
what  dost  thou  make  request?"  Nehemiah 
asks  to  be  permitted  to  go  to  restore  the  city. 
He  obtains  volunteers,  surveys  the  city  by 
night  because  of  his  foes,  and  beholds  a  ter- 
rible picture  of  desolation — a  sight  to  make  a 
patriot's  heart  sink.  His  wisdom  and  strength 
of  purpose  gave  a  new  courage  to  an  abject 
people.  Their  work  was  accomplished.  The 
Sabbath  month  came,  which  was  kept  in  mem- 
ory of  their  escape  into  the  wilderness,  which 
also  served  to  commemorate  the  ingathering 


236  THANKSGIVING  SERMONS. 

of  the  fruits  of  the  earth.  The  much-neglected 
Feast  of  Tabernacles  was  celebrated  afresh 
with  great  joy  and  festivity. 

1.  We  learn  that  we  should  not  be  in- 
different to  God's  gifts. 

(a)  We  should  remember  that  they  come 
from  God. 

Nehemiah  bids  them  eat  the  fat  and  drink 
the  sweet.  They  are  to  use  and  enjoy.  The 
perfection  of  the  soul  will  come  when  we  ap- 
preciate Giver  and  gift.  God  commends  his 
gifts  by  the  way  in  which  he  gives  them  as 
well  as  by  their  value.  Some  givers  are  so 
patronizing,  self-seeking,  expectant,  demand 
such  flattery,  that  a  starving  man  would  re- 
fuse the  bread  of  life  at  such  hands.  God  be- 
stows freely  with  good-will,  demanding  little 
in  return,  seeking  a  recompense  only  in  that 
which  ennobles  us — gratitude  which  enlarges, 
praise  which  glorifies,  obedience  which  makes 
righteous.  God  gives  his  Son,  Spirit,  riches 
of  his  eternal  Godhead.  He  gives  as  if  he 
were  surveying  his  own  inexhaustible  trea- 
sures rather  than  our  needs — as  if  all  the 
splendors  of  the  material  universe  were  in- 
sufficient for  those  who  are  joint  heirs  with 
Christ. 

(h)  God  wishes  us  to  appreciate  his  gifts. 

The  way  in  which  we  treat  them  will  test 


A   THANKSGIVING  DAY.  237 

our  religion  as  well  as  our  taste,  our  common 
sense  as  well  as  our  devotion.  Sensual  men 
abuse  them ;  ungrateful  men  take  them  as  only 
a  small  instalment  of  their  due.  The  forget- 
ful and  insensible  man  takes  all  as  a  matter 
of  course.  He  builds  a  pyramid  to  his  own 
self-conceit,  and  inters  God's  mercies  therein. 
The  ascetic  slights  the  gifts  for  the  sake  of  the 
Giver,  so  he  says.  He  acts  as  though  this 
earth  were  made,  adorned,  and  preserved  by 
Satan;  as  though  God  had  never  made  an 
Eden,  never  had  promised  a  Paradise  with  full- 
ness of  joy.  But  Christians  love  the  Giver ; 
therefore  all  his  gifts  are  golden,  and  bear  his 
superscription.  Though  Christianity  is  spiri- 
tual in  aim,  it  does  not  despise  material  good. 
Why  should  it?  Though  it  wins  its  highest 
trophies  in  the  soul  it  strives  mightily  to  make 
the  body  also  a  temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
The  body  as  well  as  the  soul  is  to  be  made 
like  Christ.  Christianity  should  smile  on  all 
scenes  of  happiness  and  contentment.  If  it 
has  its  tears  in  repentance  it  has  also  the  new 
life,  and  love  and  joy.  It  has  its  cross,  but 
also  its  opened  sepulcher  and  ascension;  its 
stern  forerunner,  John  the  Baptist,  but  also 
its  Christ  gracing  a  wedding,  feasting  with  his 
disciples,  inviting  the  slanders  of  the  envious 
by  his  sociality. 


238  THANKSGIVING   SEKMONS. 

(c)  God  means  us  to  take  them  as  a  reward 
for  toil. 

Shall  a  man  serve  Grod  for  naught  1  Every- 
thing on  earth,  in  heaven,  among  all  creatures, 
proclaims  he  shall  not.  God  not  only  pays  in 
stern  righteousness  for  all  our  efforts,  but  lets 
grace  abound.  The  deserving  of  all  the  good 
God  bestows  is  an  impossibility  even  for  un- 
f alien  angels.  If  men  toil  in  vain  it  is  not  in 
harmony  with  the  creative  plan.  Occasional 
failure  proves  not  that  labor  is  designed  to 
fail.  God  is  the  active  cause  of  success.  Sin 
brings  failure.  Sin  not  only  destroys,  but 
prevents  much  good.  Rarely  do  men  fish  all 
night  and  catch  nothing ;  and,  if  they  do,  the 
Lord  appears  in  the  morning,  and  their  very 
nets  break. 

When  we  enter  the  higher  regions  of  the 
soul,  where  God  alone  can  find  the  currency 
of  heaven  with  which  to  pay,  lack  of  recom- 
pense is  an  impossibility. 

If  all  good  came  without  effort,  man  would 
soon  become  a  mere  brute,  like  Nebuchadnez- 
zar. If  no  recompense  came,  man  would  be 
like  the  Israelites  in  the  days  of  Deborah,  when 
the  inhabitants  of  villages  ceased  because 
Philistines  reaped  their  fields.  Not  for  noth- 
ing will  you  toil  up  steep  hills  of  difficulty. 
The  prospect  will  more  than  repay  the  pain. 


A  THANKSGIVING  DAY.  239 

Nebo  will  be  your  reward.  Not  for  nothing 
shall  you  have  the  storm,  the  thunder's  roar, 
lightning's  flash.  You  shall  see  a  sea  of  glass 
glittering  like  amethyst  beneath  the  cloudless 
sky  of  eternity.  The  isles  of  the  Blessed  West, 
stately  with  palm,  shall  be  the  land  ahead. 
Not  for  nothing  will  scoff,  jeer  of  witless  per- 
secutor, trouble  you,  or  strive  to  hold  you  up 
to  execration.  Soon  the  streets  of  the  city  of 
the  great  King  shall  ring  with  that  which  shall 
be  done  unto  that  man  whom  the  King  de- 
lighteth  to  honor. 

(d)  Grod  takes  pleasure  in  the  delight  of  his 
people. 

The  sculptor  takes  pleasure  in  the  creation 
of  his  genius,  when  the  ordinary  statue  seems 
to  breathe  and  speak ;  but  when  by  his  skill  he 
impersonates  a  great  statesman  or  reformer, 
so  that  through  that  rigid  marble  he  touches  a 
thousand  hearts  with  generous  impulses,  with 
self-sacrifice  and  lofty  aspiration,  he  rejoices 
more :  even  so,  when  God  sees  material  boun- 
ties unloose  our  tongues  with  praise,  make  our 
hearts  glow  with  gratitude,  then  he  attains  his 
end  and  rejoices  therein.  He  never  limits  our 
joy  by  sorrow,  except  it  lead  to  a  higher  joy. 
He  never  flings  a  shadow  across  our  path  but 
what  he  designs  it  to  quicken  our  pursuit  of 
that  eternal  substance  from  which  it  falls. 


240  THANKSGIVING   SERMONS. 

Why  should  God  create  in  vain !  Why  should 
he  not  be  satisfied  with  his  works  1  Has  he 
not  a  right  to  make  the  earth  a  high  altar,  and 
man  his  priest  ?  Nature  cannot  pay  her  full 
revenue  of  praise  until  man  assists. 

We  may  have  different  views  of  some  of 
God's  ways,  "footsteps  not  known"  even  to 
keen  eyes  of  angels ;  but  we  cannot  doubt  he 
intends  to  make  us  happy.  God  smiles  afresh 
when  contentment,  cheerfulness,  gladness  go 
forth  to  triumph.  Wound  not  the  heart  of 
your  Heavenly  Father  by  base  ingratitude. 
As  God  consults  our  highest  interests  in  the 
gifts,  let  us  consult  his  glory  in  their  use ;  as 
he  puts  his  love  into  his  bounties,  let  us  strive 
to  make  our  gratitude  last  as  long  as  his  mercy. 
Strive  to  distinguish  between  levity  and  cheer- 
fulness, for  levity  may  be  the  production  of 
folly  and  vice ;  cheerfulness  is  the  natural  off- 
spring of  wisdom  and  virtue. 

2,  Out  of  our  prosperity  we  should 
bless  others. 

(a)  This  is  Godlike. 

"  Send  a  portion  unto  him  for  whom  noth- 
ing is  prepared." 

How  God  delights  to  communicate !  Every 
star  which  glitters,  every  mind  which  thinks, 
every  angel  which  worships,  yea,  even  the 
fallen  angels,  declare  how  he  delighted  to  go 


A  THANKSGIVING  DAY.  241 

out  of  himself.  All  the  laws  of  nature  are 
almoners  of  his  bounty.  If  God  did  not  de- 
light to  give,  creation  could  never  have  been, 
and  the  very  mansions  of  heaven  must  soon 
totter  and  fall.  If  he  be  churlish  and  miserly, 
we  must  change  the  name  of  God.  Goodness 
is  the  most  active  of  all  virtues.  Like  fabled 
Time,  it  has  wings  upon  its  feet.  God's  readi- 
ness to  bless  outspeeds  our  needs. 

It  degrades  men  to  withhold  good.  Even 
the  granite  quartz  yields  the  gold  to  the  crush- 
ing-instrument. But,  alas !  some  hearts  are 
harder  than  granite.  Only  universal  goodness 
could  be  commensurate  with  God's  own  im- 
mensity. 

"  Great  minds,  like  Heaven,  are  pleased  in  doing  good, 
Though  the  ungrateful  subjects  of  their  favors  are  barren  in 
return." 

It  requires  no  revelation  from  heaven  to  tell 
us  that  sorrows  abound  in  this  world.  If  we 
were  invaded  by  a  cruel  enemy  we  must  know 
that  many  would  be  exposed  to  attacks,  sur- 
prisals,  ambushes,  requisitions.  There  must 
be  many  sufferers.  If  a  battle  rage  we  ought 
not  to  partake  of  delicious  fruit  in  our  plea- 
sant bowers,  while,  just  beyond,  our  country- 
men are  clutching  the  crimsoned  grass  in  dy- 
ing agony.    We  know  the  world  is  not  in  a 


242  THANKSGIVING  SEKMONS. 

state  of  profound  peace  and  iiniversal  pros- 
perity. It  has  been  invaded  by  cruel,  untir- 
ing foes ;  disease,  making  weak  weaker,  poor 
poorer,  the  helpless  more  despairing;  vice, 
apples  of  Sodom,  Dead  Sea  fruit;  bereave- 
ment, shattering  the  pillar  which  supports  the 
family,  cutting  off  income.  Such  considera- 
tions should  pierce  our  consciences  as  arrows 
of  the  Lord ;  they  should  burden  our  hearts. 
We  ought  not  to  feast  within  drawn  blinds, 
and  forget  the  shivering  and  starving  groping 
helplessly  in  the  dark  outside.  We  must  not, 
even  for  sake  of  being  early  at  a  convention, 
pass  rapidly  on  the  other  side,  oblivious  of  the 
wounded  one  who  has  "  fallen  among  thieves." 
When  you  have  weathered  commercial  crises 
and  find  credit  unimpaired,  do  not  forget  those 
who  are  still  on  broken  spars  battling  with  the 
waves. 

"  Oh,  there  is  need  that  on  men's  hearts  should  fall 
A  spirit  that  can  sympathize  with  all." 

(b)  We  should  strive  to  cultivate  sympathy. 

It  ought  to  be  impossible  that  in  a  Christian 
land  honest  worth  or  hopeless  want  should 
dwell  unaided  by  our  care  and  sympathy. 
Our  poor-law  system  is  honoring  to  Chris- 
tianity, which  made  it  possible,  but  it  is  too 
narrow  for  that  universal  spirit  of  benevolence 


A   THANKSGIVING   DAY.  243 

which  Christianity  strives  to  impart.  Pene- 
trative though  it  is,  it  cannot  ascertain  many 
secret  burdens  crushing  the  most  sensitive.  It 
cannot  be  full  of  sympathy.  It  may  encourage 
indolence ;  it  does  not  go  in  search  of  misery 
— it  has  enough  brought  to  its  office.  Poor- 
laws  were  never  designed  to  fulfil  all  our  duty 
to  our  neighbor.  They  are  much  more  than 
the  priest  and  Levite  who  passed  by  on  the 
other  side,  but  much  less  than  the  good  Sa- 
maritan. Poor-laws  are  too  much  like  auto- 
matic machines  which  supply  sweetmeats,  but 
there  is  no  feeling.  The  relieving  officer,  who 
gets  the  "  blessing  of  them  that  are  ready  to 
perish,"  is  likely  to  get  censure  of  those  whose 
"  eyes  stand  out  with  fatness." 

Christian  benevolence  has  heart  as  well  as 
head.  Talking  about  the  golden  age  will  not 
bring  it.  Christianity  will  no  longer  multiply 
the  loaves  by  miracle,  save  by  the  miracle  of 
God's  gracious  providence.  The  plenty  is  put 
into  our  homes  to  carry  it  to  others. 

3.  True  holiness  is  not  incompatible 
with  innocent  enjoyment. 

God  is  holy  as  well  as  happy ;  but  he  is  holy 
first.  God  looks  on  what  he  has  made  and  pro- 
nounces it  to  be  good.  What  right  have  we 
to  reverse  Heaven's  high  verdict  1  Is  not  this 
as  bad  as  transforming  it  into  a  curse  ?    The 


244  THANKSGIVING   SERMONS. 

day  was  holy  on  being  set  aside.  Bnt  the 
mere  formal  setting  aside,  the  describing  a 
circle  more  or  less  limited  within  the  sweep  of 
time,  the  cutting  an  infinitesimal  arc  off  the 
circle  of  eternity,  cannot  make  it  holy.  Chris- 
tianity has  been  injured  by  its  fast-days, 
its  whips,  flagellations,  and  heavy  penances. 
When  these  were  rife  Christianity  was  most 
corrupt.  We  must  put  holiness  in  the  princi- 
ple rather  than  in  the  theory.  We  must  teach, 
not  that  there  is  one  holy  temple  in  Zion,  but 
that  every  Christian  may  become  a  temple; 
that  every  day  and  hour  may  be  a  time  for 
holy  living.  To  do  everything  unto  is  equiv- 
alent to  doing  everything  for  the  Lord.  When 
we  throw  the  spirit  of  holy  angels  into  the 
duty  of  life  we  make  the  secular  spiritual,  and 
the  whole  earth  a  temple  overflowing  with  the 
light  and  glory  of  God.  Matter  in  itseK  can- 
not be  sinful.  Impurity  is  not  associated 
with  each  gift  and  bounty  of  a  material  kind. 
Health  need  not  lead  to  sin,  nor  prosperity  to 
rebellion.  The  streams  of  heaven  are  pure  as 
well  as  joyous.  Let  all  matter  be  associated 
with  sin,  then  all  material  emblems  of  heaven 
are  illusive.  Yes,  the  fontal  spring  was  pure, 
but  ere  it  flowed  far  an  enemy  cast  in  mire  and 
dirt.  The  impurity  comes  in  the  dethronement 
of  the  higher  matter.    Holiness  is  not  a  mere 


THE   CUP   OF   SALVATION.  245 

crotchet,  but  a  principle  far-reaching  as  God's 
omnipresence,  penetrative  as  his  omniscience. 
The  holiest  men  have  had  fullest  foretastes  of 
heaven.  Through  holiness  the  highest  spiri- 
tual joy  will  flow.  "  We  will  worship  toward 
thy  holy  temple,  and  praise  thy  name  for  thy 
loving-kindness  and  for  thy  truth." 


THE  CUP  OF   SALVATION. 

"  What  shall  I  render  unto  the  Lord  for  all  his  benefits  to- 
ward me  ? 

*'  I  will  take  the  cup  of  salvation,  and  call  upon  the  name  of 
the  Lord."— Ps.  cxvi.  12,  13. 

We  have  here  a  question  and  its  answer ;  a 
question  we  all  ought  to  ask  and  an  answer 
we  all  ought  to  give. 

Look  at  the  question — ^have  we  ever  asked 
it !  Have  we  tried  to  think  about  the  Lord's 
benefits!  Have  we  in  some  quiet  hour  at- 
tempted to  count  over  the  numberless  mercies 
which  abound  in  our  lives  ? 

Let  us  put  the  matter  to  ourselves  in  some 
practical  way.  Let  us  go  for  a  little  time  to 
the  waiting-room  or  the  wards  of  some  great 
hospital  and  see  the  large  numbers  of  our  fel- 
low-creatures who  come  with  their  heavy  phys- 
ical burdens  that  they  may  obtain  the  advice 


246  THANKSGIVING   SEKMONS. 

and  relief  wliich  science  can  give.  Look  at  the 
crippled  limbs,  the  white,  sunken,  wasted  faces, 
the  helplessness,  the  suffering,  the  want.  If 
we  spent  a  few  hours  thus  should  we  not  be 
thankful  indeed  for  our  own  abounding  health, 
our  sound  limbs,  our  freedom  from  weakness 
and  pain,  our  large  capacity  for  work  and  en- 
joyment 1  Should  we  not  ask  some  such  ques- 
tion as  the  psalmist's :  "  What  shall  I  render 
unto  the  Lord  for  all  his  benefits  toward  me  ?  " 

Or  we  might  go  through  a  lunatic  asylum 
and  see  hundreds  of  men  and  women  mentally 
diseased,  their  minds  filled  with  delusions 
which  make  their  lives  useless  and  wretched 
to  themselves  and  oftentimes  dangerous  to  so- 
ciety. What  more  fearful  calamity  can  over- 
take a  man  than  to  have  reason  dethroned  and 
some  childish  or  animal  impulse  assuming  the 
government  of  the  life  1  Would  not  a  sad  sight 
like  that  fill  us  with  thankfulness  for  our  own 
soundness  of  mind,  our  power  to  think  and 
learn  more  and  more  of  the  great  truths  and 
facts  with  which  men  have  to  deal!  Should 
we  not  ask  ourselves  the  psalmist's  question : 
How  can  we  ever  repay  God  for  all  his  good- 
ness? 

We  might  try  to  measure  the  misery  linked 
to  the  rags,  the  hunger  and  the  dirt,  and  the 
unceasing  pain  of  daily  struggle  for  the  barest 


THE  CUP   OF   SALVATION.  247 

maintenance  of  life.  Then,  as  we  went  back  to 
our  own  comfortable  homes,  with  their  order, 
plenty,  and  moderate  adornment,  should  we 
not  think  of  the  psalmist's  problem  1  Should 
we  not  ask :  What  thank-offering  can  be  made 
to  God  for  his  abounding  mercy  ? 

Look  steadily  at  the  picture  of  the  fearful 
sufferings  of  men  and  women  and  little  chil- 
dren for  want  of  bread.  Aye,  and  look  at  the 
terrible  mortality  too!  Then  turn  to  the 
bountiful  provision  which  God  has  made  for 
us.  See  the  abundant  harvest  which  is  once 
more  gathered  in.  Measure  up,  if  you  can, 
the  varied  fruits  of  the  earth  which  are  safely 
housed  in  our  garners  for  the  sustenance  and 
comfort  of  man's  life.  The  dark  story  of  the 
famine  will  help  us  to  estimate  rightly  the 
greatness  of  common  mercies — those  gifts 
which  are  bestowed  upon  us  in  such  plenty 
that  too  often  we  use  them  without  thought 
and  without  thankfulness. 

The  purpose  of  our  annual  Thanksgiv- 
ing is  to  bring  us  face  to  face  with  the 
fact  that  all  the  products  of  nature  are  the 
gift  of  God,  and  to  teach  us  the  trust  and 
the  thankfulness  witli  which  we  should 
receive  and  use  them  all.  When  we  see 
the  harvest-fields  in  their  autumnal  beauty, 
and  feel  that  God  has  once  more  prepared  a 


248  THANKSGIVING  SERMONS. 

table  for  us  in  the  wilderness,  we  should  ask, 
like  the  psalmist ;  "  What  shall  I  render  unto 
the  Lord  for  all  his  benefits  toward  me  I " 

These  common  mercies  we  have  thought  of 
are  great,  but  they  are  the  least  portion  of  the 
benefits  on  which  the  psalmist  meditated.  As 
we  read  the  psalm  we  see  that  the  main  mercies 
around  which  his  mind  was  lingering  were 
spiritual  ones,  those  precious  gifts  of  grace 
and  mercy  which  were  linked  to  the  covenant. 
He  may  have  been  brought  into  contact  with 
some  of  the  debasing  forms  of  the  idolatry  of 
the  age.  He  may  have  seen  the  results  of  a 
false  worship  on  the  mental  and  moral  state 
of  a  nation,  and  then  was  filled  with  thankful- 
ness at  the  mercy  vouchsafed  to  Israel.  They 
were  blessed  with  "the  courts  of  the  Lord's 
house  in  the  midst "  of  them.  In  those  courts 
the  faithful  soul  could  enter  into  communion 
with  Grod,  and  find  grace  and  strength  for  the 
life  in  every  time  of  need.  His  own  inner  life 
was  a  sufficient  witness  of  this.  He  had  been 
in  the  depths.  Pain  and  sorrow  and  darkness 
had  laid  hold  of  him.  In  answer  to  his  cry  he 
had  not  only  found  deliverance,  but  the  very 
trial  itself  had  been  blessed  to  his  spiritual 
growth. 

Thoughts  such  as  these  are  far  more  full  of 
meaning  to  us  than  they  could  have  been  to 


THE   CUP   OF   SALVATION.  249 

the  psalmist.  The  Lord's  benefits !  What  a 
flood  of  light  is  cast  on  the  words  by  the  cross 
and  resurrection  of  the  Saviour !  God's  own 
Son  taking  human  flesh,  dying  for  our  sins, 
rising  again  for  our  justification,  sending  the 
Divine  Spirit  down  upon  his  believing  people ! 
How  vast  and  how  abiding  is  the  grace  en- 
shrined in  such  familiar  facts  as  these!  If 
the  psalmist,  in  passing  God's  benefits  in  re- 
view, felt  that  they  surpassed  infinitely  not 
only  his  desert  but  also  his  power  of  adequate 
acknowledgment,  what  ought  our  thankfulness 
to  be  at  the  greater  mercy  and  the  clearer  light 
vouchsafed  to  us ! 

Have  we  ever  really  thought  about  these 
things  I  Have  we  tried  in  any  way  to  mea- 
sure our  boundless  spiritual  opportunities  and 
to  estimate  the  preciousness  of  the  golden 
chain  of  love  and  goodness  with  which,  both 
in  temporal  and  spiritual  things,  God  has  en- 
circled our  life?  Have  we  ever  asked  what 
duty  these  things  place  upon  us  ? 

"  What  shall  I  render  unto  the  Lord  for  all 
his  benefits  toward  me ! " 

This  is  the  question  of  a  grateful  heart,  a 
heart  which  would  like  to  make  some  return 
to  God  if  it  were  possible  to  do  so.  A  right 
and  noble  desire — would  that  it  dwelt  in  us 
all! 


250  THANKSGIVING  SERMONS. 

What  answer  can  we  give  to  the  question  ? 
God  bestows  so  many  blessings  upon  us  that, 
in  one  sense  of  the  word,  we  can  return  abso- 
lutely nothing  to  him  for  his  gifts.  The  psalm- 
ist's words  imply  this:  I  can  bring  thee  no 
great  gift,  I  can  lay  no  priceless  offering  at 
thy  feet,  I  have  nothing  which  is  not  already 
thine  own,  for  all  has  come  from  thee — I  will 
take  the  cup  of  salvation.  I  will  accept  thy 
bounteous  mercy  with  a  thankful  heart.  I 
will  seek  to  link  all  my  life  to  thee. 

This  thought  helps  us  to  meet  a  very  com- 
mon temptation.  A  man  may  realize  some- 
thing of  the  goodness  of  God.  He  may  say  to 
himself :  "  Oh,  if  I  had  very  large  means  like 
some  men,  how  much  I  would  try  to  do  in  re- 
turn !  I  would  build  a  stately  cathedral  for 
the  service  of  God,  a  noble  house  of  prayer  for 
all  time.  I  would  endow  a  hospital  to  minis- 
ter to  human  suffering.  I  would  put  the  high- 
est education  within  the  reach  of  the  poorest 
man.  But  I  have  so  little  income,  it  scarcely 
overlaps  my  own  pressing  wants."  Then,  be- 
cause he  cannot  do  great  things,  he  sinks  back 
and  does  nothing  at  all.  He  would  reform  an 
empire,  but  does  not  order  his  own  house.  He 
dreams  of  cleansing  a  city,  but  never  sweeps 
before  his  own  door.  The  psalmist  teaches  us 
the  true  lesson,  and  shows  us  what  we  may  all 


THE  CUP   OF   SALVATION.  251 

do.  We  may  give  ourselves  first  of  all,  and 
then  the  avenues  of  service  will  open  out  be- 
fore us  according  to  His  will.  "  I  will  take  the 
cup  of  salvation."  Is  it  not  saying,  in  other 
words,  "  God  shall  be  my  God,  and  I  will  be 
his  servant"? 

"  I  will  take  the  cup  of  salvation." 

How  are  we  to  understand  the  figure  ?  The 
word  cup  is  often  used  in  Holy  Scripture  to 
represent  the  portion  allotted  to  man,  whether 
of  prosperity  or  adversity ;  just  as  the  Arabs 
speak  of  the  cup  of  love  and  the  cup  of  death. 
(See,  as  examples  of  this,  Ps.  xi.  6,  xvi.  5, 
xxiii.  5.)  So  the  words  of  the  text  would  mean : 
"  I  will  accept  with  thankfulness  and  worship 
what  God  may  see  fit  to  send  me  as  my  lifers 
portion." 

To  enter  into  the  lesson  of  the  words  we 
may  take  three  pictures : 

1.  That  so  familiar  to  us  in  the  Twenty- 
third  Psalm.  A  human  soul  pondering  over 
the  past  life  with  all  its  alternations  of  light 
and  shade,  of  joy  and  sorrow.  He  scans  the 
winding  pathway  by  which  he  has  been  led 
out  of  the  bare  desert  into  the  green  pastures 
and  beside  the  still  waters.  In  strife  and  in 
darkness  the  protecting  hand  had  never  been 
withdrawn.  All  his  wants  had  been  supplied. 
His  table  had  been  prepared  even  in  the  pres- 


252  THANKSGIVING  SERMONS. 

ence  of  his  enemies.  He  saw  tliat  all  his  life 
had  abounded  with  blessing.  With  thankful 
heart  he  says  to  himself  and  to  the  world,  "  My 
cup  runneth  over."  My  lot  has  been  always 
blessed  by  the  unfailing  goodness  of  God. 

2.  A  second  picture.  The  Christ,  in  his 
great  agony  in  the  garden,  bending  low  under 
the  shadow  of  the  aged  olive-trees,  while  the 
Passover  moon  was  lighting  up  the  rough 
mountain  side  with  its  brightness.  How  aw- 
ful a  burden  bowed  him  down  when  his  sweat 
was  as  great  drops  of  blood  falling  down  to 
the  ground!  His  anguish  of  body  and  soul 
was  as  a  cup  of  unspeakable  bitterness  he  had 
to  drink.  Even  he  pleaded,  "  If  it  be  possible, 
let  this  cup  pass  from  me."  And  yet,  withal, 
there  was  the  prayer  so  sublime  in  its  self-for- 
getfulness :  "  Not  my  will,  but  thine,  be  done." 
How  complete  was  his  submission  to  God,  and 
how  unfaltering  his  devotion  to  the  great  work 
for  which  he  came ! 

3.  A  third  picture.  The  father  of  the 
family,  at  the  Passover,  as  the  master  of  the 
feast,  took  a  cup  of  wine  into  his  hand  and 
solemnly  blessed  God  for  it  and  for  the  mercy 
which  was  then  acknowledged.  He  then  gave 
it  to  all  the  guests,  and  each  one  drank  of  it  in 
turn.  Many  have  thought  that  this  is  what 
the  psalmist  refers  to  in  the  text.    It  was  the 


THE  CUP  OF  SALVATION.  253 

custom  of  the  feast  in  our  Lord's  time,  but 
there  is  no  evidence  of  the  existence  of  the 
custom  at  the  celebration  of  the  Passover  in 
the  Old  Testament,  and  the  time  of  its  intro- 
duction may  be  open  to  question.  Still  the 
idea  is  in  the  words,  whether  the  psalmist  was 
referring  to  any  such  particular  custom  or  no. 
In  taking  the  cup  they  signified  their  accep- 
tance of  God's  offered  mercy— the  fruits  of  the 
great  deliverance  of  Israel  from  their  bondage 
— and  while  accepting  the  mercy  they  declared 
their  allegiance  to  the  Grod  of  their  fathers. 
"I  will  take  the  cup  of  salvation,  and  call 
upon  the  name  of  the  Lord."  Jehovah  shall 
be  my  God;  I  will  be  his  faithful  servant. 

Do  we  think  over  the  manifold  gifts  of  God : 
the  temporal  gifts— the  food  we  eat,  the  rai- 
ment we  wear,  the  comforts  ever  about  us; 
the  spiritual  gifts  which  he  continues  to  oifer 
us  with  such  patient  love?  Does  each  one 
say :  "  I  will  take  the  cup  of  salvation :  what 
God  offers  I  will  not  refuse"?  For  the  best 
recompense  we  can  make  is  thankfully  to  ac- 
cept and  rightly  to  use  his  great  and  precious 
gifts. 

Many  cups  may  be  offered  us  as  we  go 
through  life.  We  may  for  the  moment  be 
dazzled  by  the  gemmed  and  sparkling  cup  of 
earthly  pleasure,  or  the  cup  of  worldly  aims 


254  THANKSGIVING   SEEMONS. 

and  ambitions.  Let  us  put  them  aside.  Let 
each  say,  "  I  will  take  the  cup  of  salvation." 
I  will  accept  and  use  all  God's  offered  mercy. 
The  chalice  of  redeeming  love  shall  be  my 
chiefest  treasure.  I  will  take  it — I  will  seek 
to  be  Grod's  true  child,  the  grateful  son  of  so 
loving  a  Father.  I  will  endeavor  in  all  things 
to  do  his  will,  hoping  to  be  guided  ever  by  his 
grace  and  shielded  ever  by  his  protecting  care. 
"I  will  call  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord" 
openly,  constantly,  in  my  loftiest  thanksgiv- 
ings as  well  as  in  my  sorest  need;  in  my 
health  and  strength  as  well  as  in  my  pain  and 
sickness :  thus  his  mercy  and  my  trusting  ser- 
vice shall  bind  me  to  his  throne  by  links  which 
neither  life  nor  death  shall  break  asunder. 


THE  PARABLE  OF  THE  SOWER. 

BY  THE  REV.  J.  ROBINSON  GREGORY. 
Mark  iv.  1-20. 

Of  all  the  parables,  that  of  the  Sower  deals 
most  directly  with  the  preacher's  and  teacher's 
work.  Our  Lord,  too,  not  only  interpreted  the 
parable  himself,  but  set  it  as  a  kind  of  model 
for  the  interpretation  of  all  parables  (verse  13). 


THE  PAKABLE   OF  THE   SOWEK.  255 

Very  likely  while  Jesus  was  speaking  he  saw 
a  sower  casting  his  seed  upon  the  earth.  It  is 
quite  conceivable  that  all  the  different  sorts  of 
ground  might  be  found  within  a  comparatively 
small  space.  A  footpath  runs  through  the  field, 
beaten  hard  by  the  continual  tread  of  travelers. 
Near  it  the  rock  rises  close  to  the  surface,  but 
it  is  still  completely  covered  with  soil.  Here, 
again,  is  a  portion  of  the  field  which  has  not 
been  cleaned  properly;  the  thorn-roots  have 
not  been  stubbed  up — their  heads  already  ap- 
pear above  the  earth.  And  here  is  a  piece 
of  good  ground,  naturally  rich,  and  cultivated 
with  skill  and  diligence.  One  could  almost 
tell  the  fate  of  the  seed  beforehand.  Some  fell 
on  the  unplowed  and  uninclosed  footpath  over 
which  every  one  had  a  right  of  way.  It  could 
not  sink  below  the  surface,  and  the  eager  birds, 
ever  on  the  outlook  for  the  good  grain,  seized 
it  immediately.  Some  fell  on  the  rocky  ground. 
The  thin  coating  of  soil  held  it,  but  the  stone 
bed  would  not  permit  it  to  be  more  than  just 
covered.  The  earth  there  was  all  the  warmer 
because  the  rock  radiated  the  heat.  Like 
Jonah's  gourd,  the  seed  sprang  up  in  a  night, 
the  warmth  causing  it  to  germinate  with  un- 
natural rapidity.  But  the  thin,  hot  earth 
lacked  moisture,  and  when  the  fierce  sun  beat 
upon  the  too  hasty  plant  it  had  no  sources 


256  THANKSGIVING   SEKMONS. 

whence  to  draw  its  supplies,  and,  not  on  the 
instant,  but  gradually,  it  ivithered  aivay.  For 
a  little  while  it  endured  the  scorching^  but  it 
speedily  perished.  Some  fell  among  thorns, 
and  the  thorns  and  it  grew  up  together  (see 
Luke  viii.  7),  and  the  thorns  choked  it,  deprived 
it  of  light  and  air  and  room,  and  it  became  un- 
fruitful. Its  stalk  still  stood,  but  its  ears  were 
like  the  devouring  ears  in  Pharaoh's  dream. 
But  some  fell  upon  good  ground.  Here,  where 
the  soil  was  in  the  condition  in  which  it  ought 
to  be,  where  there  was  nourishment  which  the 
living  seed  could  appropriate  and  assimilate, 
it  grew ;  and,  as  its  progress  was  not  checked 
by  illegitimate  hindrances,  it  yielded  fruit. 
All  the  good  was  not  equally  rich  or  equally 
well  cultivated,  had  not  equal  benefit  of  air 
and  sunlight,  so  that  the  final  yield  was  un- 
equal. But  in  each  case  fruit  was  brought 
forth  to  perfection.  The  largeness  of  the  in- 
crease need  not  surprise  us.  It  was  good  seed 
that  the  husbandman  sowed.  The  average 
number  of  grains  in  an  ear  of  English  wheat 
is  forty-one,  in  an  ear  of  Heshbon  wheat 
eighty-four. 

The  authoritative  interpretation  informs  us 
that  the  Sower  is  Christ  himself.  But  just  as 
there  are  under-shepherds  while  he  is  the  Chief 
Shepherd,  so  there  are  under-sowers.    Every 


THE   PAEABLE  OF  THE   SOWER.  257 

preacher  and  teacher,  every  faithful  Christian, 
is  such  an  under-sower.  The  seed  is  the  Word 
— of  Grod  (Luke  viii.  12),  of  the  kingdom  (Matt, 
xiii.  19).  It  is  given  by  God ;  it  proclaims  the 
kingdom,  both  the  external  kingdom  of  heaven 
and  the  internal — righteousness  and  peace  and 
joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost.  The  Word  is  sown — 
preached,  i.e.,  declared  in  any  way  so  as  to 
reach  the  soul  by  the  ear  or  the  eye.  Some 
men's  hearts  are  like  a  public  footpath.  There 
is  no  guard  to  them.  Thoughts  rush  in,  over, 
and  through  them,  unexamined  and  uncon- 
sidered. Such  a  man  heareth  the  Word,  and 
under standetJi  it  not  (Matt.  xiii.  19) ;  from  sheer 
heedlessness  does  not  perceive  its  real  meaning 
and  power  (see  1  Cor.  ii.  14) ;  does  not  even 
think  about  it  long  enough  or  earnestly  enough 
for  it  to  attach  itself  in  the  slightest  degree  to 
his  real  self.  Nevertheless,  if  the  seed  were 
left  in  his  heart  it  might  take  root  even  there ; 
afflictions  might  plow  it  and  soften  the  hard 
soil.  Lest  it  should  be  so,  lest  some  grain 
might  have  fallen  upon  a  spot  where  it  could 
take  root,  Satan  comethj  by  agents  numerous 
as  the  fowls  of  the  heaven,  using  "  trifles  light 
as  air,"  filling  the  heart  with  other  thoughts, 
not  necessarily  harmful  intrinsically,  but  only 
as  they  render  the  Word  forgotten,  and  taketh 
away  that  which  hath  been  sown  in  the  heart. 


258  THANKSGIVING  SEBMONS. 

Other  hearers  are  all  impulse  and  emotion. 
They  feel  quickly  and  keenly,  but  not  strongly. 
To  them  the  Word  has  a  pleasant  sound ;  they 
notice  only  its  promises ;  and  they  do  not  sus- 
pect their  own  shallowness.  Such  a  hearer 
receives  the  Word  tvith  joy  and  straightway. 
Not  only  is  there  absence  of  struggle,  but  also 
absence  of  sorrow.  His  acceptance  of  reli- 
gion is  sincere  as  far  as  it  goes,  but  it  has  not 
touched  the  deeper  fibers  of  the  being.  Trih- 
ulatiofij  affliction,  temptation,  persecution — any 
one  of  these  tries  or  assails  him,  and,  with 
scarce  an  effort  to  keep  his  feet,  immediately 
he  stumbles  and  falls.  This  kind  of  hearer 
often  swells  the  roll  of  converts  at  mission  ser- 
vices. He  is  accountable,  probably,  for  the 
large  number  of  those  who  yearly  leave  our 
churches.  We  may  do  our  best  to  test  them, 
to  break  up  the  underlying  rock,  but  we  may 
not  reject  them  peremptorily,  even  if  we  could 
discern  them,  for  they  have,  for  the  time,  the 
seed  of  the  kingdom  in  their  hearts. 

The  third  class  of  hearers  have  the  seed 
rooted  in  themselves.  They  go  forth  (Luke  viii. 
14)  from  the  place  of  hearing  to  their  house- 
holds, their  business,  their  pleasures.  Worldly 
cares  not  cast  upon  God;  the  deceitfulness  of 
riches — the  glitter  of  gold,  of  which  they  think 
they  will  make  good  use ;  the  pleasures  of  this 


THE   PARABLE   OF  THE   SOWER.  259 

life^  even  physical  passions  and  appetites  un- 
subdued ;  lusts  of  other  tilings — desire  for  godli- 
ness mingled  with  desires  for  something  else  as 
well ;  affections  not  set  ivholly  upon  the  Lord, 
contend  with  the  living  Word  in  the  heart,  and 
the  naturally  productive  Word,  the  real  grace 
of  Grod,  a  measure  of  which  has  been  received, 
hecometh  wholly  unfruitful,  or  at  the  best  bring- 
eth  no  fruit  to  perfection.  (Luke  viii.  14.)  The 
Christian  life  ends  in  failure,  while  perhaps 
the  profession  of  it  continues.  Of  course,  be- 
coming unfruitful  is  a  process  which,  thank 
God !  may  be  arrested.  The  evil  dispositions 
may  be  weakened  and  destroyed. 

From  the  three  ways  of  losing,  wasting,  or 
spoiling  the  seed,  let  us  turn  to  the  one  way  of 
keeping  and  using  it.  The  seed  on  the  way- 
side did  not  even  spring  up ;  that  on  the  rocky 
ground  sprang  up,  but  did  not  take  real  root ; 
that  among  thorns  sprang  up,  took  real  root, 
but  did  not  ripen.  The  seed  sown  on  the  good 
ground  takes  true  and  deep  root,  springs  up, 
ripens,  and  yields  fruit — to  perfection.  This 
series  of  stages  is  clearly  marked  in  the  para- 
ble :  receivethj  retaineth  (accept  R.  V.) — in  con- 
trast to  the  wayside ;  hringeth  forth  fruit — in 
contrast  to  the  concealed  rock;  tvith  patience 
(Luke  viii.  15) — in  contrast  to  the  thorn-bear- 
ing soil.     All  this  only  the  honest  and  good 


260  THANKSGIVING  SERMONS. 

heart  accomplishes:  honest,  in  that  it  neither 
deceives  nor  will  be  deceived ;  good,  in  that  it 
nourishes  the  seed  and  will  not  nourish  thorns 
and  weeds. 

To  the  preacher  a  caution  against  pressing 
the  parable  unduly  to  his  own  advantage  is 
necessary.  No  shadow  of  blame  can  attach  to 
the  Sower;  no  possible  defect  can  inhere  in 
his  seed.  But  human  sowers  may  fill  their 
hands  with  other  seed  than  this  gospel  of  the 
kingdom,  the  incorruptible  "Word  of  Grod ;  may 
mix  the  worthless  or  harmful  with  the  precious ; 
and  may  cast  their  seed  carelessly  or  unwisely. 
Still  the  responsibility  of  the  hearer  is  not  one 
whit  lessened.  Let  us  sow  broadcast,  but  let 
us  take  earnest  heed  as  to  the  manner  of  the 
sowing  and  the  quality  of  our  grain. 

Who  hath  ears  to  hear,  let  him  hear,  is  more 
than  a  call  for  attention  or  an  intimation  of 
the  importance  of  the  subject.  It  is  an  appeal 
to  the  individual  to  receive  that  which  is  cer- 
tain to  be  rejected  by  the  crowd. 


GEOWTH  AND  INCREASE. 

"  And  the  Word  of  God  grew  and  multiplied." — ^Acts  xii.  24. 

The  chapter  relates  how  "Herod  the  king 
stretched  out  his  hand  to  vex  certain  of  the 


GROWTH   AND   INCREASE.  261 

church  " ;  how  he  killed  James  with  the  sword ; 
how  he  imprisoned  Peter;  how  instant  and 
earnest  prayer  ascended  to  God  from  the 
church  for  him ;  how  Peter  was  delivered  mi- 
raculously; how  Herod  expired  in  exquisite 
agony ;  and  how  "  the  Word  of  God  grew  and 
multiplied."  The  persecutor  who  would  have 
destroyed  it  perished — the  gospel  spread  only 
the  more  rapidly. 

It  would  be  easily  possible  to  draw  a  contrast 
between  that  age  and  the  present  day.  "We 
might  speak  of  the  absence  of  persecution,  and 
a  corresponding  absence  of  swift  and  marked 
success.  Such  a  contrast  must  not  be  pressed 
too  strongly.  There  is  still  some  persecution, 
and  there  is  thankworthy  success.  Neverthe- 
less the  historian  of  the  church  of  to-day  would 
scarcely  choose  our  text  as  the  motto  for  his 
chapter  or  book.  And  the  contrast,  partial 
though  it  be,  carries  its  own  lessons. 

I.  The  wordings  of  our  text  is  sugrges- 
tive :  "  Grew  and  multiplied."  The  meta- 
phor almost  explains  itself.  The  one  seed 
dropped  into  the  earth  shoots  upward,  the 
blade  that  rises  higher  and  higher  then  brings 
forth  the  ear,  and  at  length  the  full  corn  in 
the  ear.  Thus  the  one  grain  has  become  many 
grains — has  grown  and  multiplied.  Growth 
implies  life.     Without  life  it  is  utterly  impos- 


262  THANKSGIVING   SERMONS. 

sible  to  produce  growth.  Other  modes  of  in- 
crease you  may  employ — accumulation,  aggre- 
gation, inflation — but  not  this. 

Another  expression  should  be  noticed.  It  is 
not  said  that  the  church  achieved  great  con- 
quests over  her  enemies  and  enlarged  her  bor- 
ders; that  the  preaching  of  the  apostles  re- 
sulted in  numerous  conversions;  that  the 
labors  of  well-advertised  and  belauded  evan- 
gelists added  largely  to  the  membership  of  the 
church;  but  that  the  Word  of  God  grew  and 
multiplied.  Attention  is  diverted  from  the 
human  instruments  to  the  message  they  de- 
livered. 

Hence  we  gather  that  the  gospel  spreads  by 
its  own  inherent  vitality,  not  by  human  might 
or  energy.  Like  its  divine  Author,  it  has  life 
in  itseK.  This  is  the  reason  why,  in  the  New 
Testament,  it  is  compared  so  frequently  to 
seed.  Even  when  a  figure  is  used  which  does 
not  imply  actual  life  active  energy  is  assumed 
— e.g.,  the  leaven  hid  in  three  measures  of 
meal.  The  living  force  may  lie  dormant  in 
the  seed  for  many  years.  Though  hidden,  it 
is  not  destroyed.  And  the  truths  of  the  gos- 
pel lodged  in  the  human  heart  may  long  seem 
to  be  uninfluential,  and  yet  at  last  develop  and 
bring  forth  abundant  fruit. 

But  however  intense  may  be  the  inherent 


GEOWTH  AND  INCKEASE.  263 

vitality  of  the  seed,  it  requires,  first,  sowing ; 
second,  suitable  soil. 

1.  Sowing.  Every  Christian  should  be  a 
sower.  In  the  persecution  that  arose  about 
Stephen  those  that  were  scattered  "  went 
everywhere  preaching  the  Word" — not  only 
apostles  and  deacons,  but  all  who  believed  in 
Christ.  Of  course  ministers  of  the  gospel  are 
specially  responsible  for  this  sowing,  but  it 
may  not  be  left  wholly  to  them ;  and  there  are 
other  modes  of  sowing  than  preaching,  as  the 
term  is  now  understood.  (Compare  Mark  v. 
18-20.) 

2.  Suitable  soil.  The  parable  of  the  Sower 
makes  the  success  or  failure  of  the  good  seed 
entirely  dependent  upon  the  quality  of  the 
ground  into  which  it  is  cast.  The  interpreta- 
tion of  the  parable  shows  that  the  gospel  has 
its  designed  effect  upon  men  only  when  it  is 
received  by  honest  and  good  hearts.  But 
hearts  naturally  sinful  can  be  rendered  honest 
and  good  only  by  the  prevenient  influence  of 
the  Holy  Ghost. 

Hence  we  may  estimate  the  spheres  of  our 
helplessness,  our  power,  our  responsibility, 
with  respect  to  the  spread  of  the  kingdom  of 
God.  We  must  sow ;  we  must  see  to  it  that  it 
is  good  seed  that  we  sow ;  but  we  cannot  insure 
results. 


264  THANKSGIVING  SERMONS. 

II.  We  may  not,  however,  reg^ard  the 
seed    once     sown   with    indifference,   as 

though  our  connection  with  it  ceased  when  it 
had  left  our  hands.  The  husbandman  watches 
his  seed  eagerly,  and  he  prays  to  God  concern- 
ing it.  The  Word  of  God  grew  and  multiplied 
after  instant  and  earnest  prayer  had  been 
offered  by  the  church.  In  times  of  spiritual 
dearth  and  destitution  we  can  cry,  "Help, 
Lord :  for  the  godly  man  ceaseth ;  for  the  faith- 
ful fail  from  among  the  children  of  men." 
(Ps.  xii.  1.)  We  can  ever  accept  the  divine 
challenge,  "Bring  ye  all  the  tithe  into  the 
storehouse,  that  there  may  be  meat  in  mine 
house,  and  prove  me  now  herewith,  saith  the 
Lord  of  hosts,  if  I  will  not  open  you  the  win- 
dows of  heaven,  and  pour  you  out  a  blessing, 
that  there  shall  not  be  room  enough  to  receive 
it."  (Mai.  iii.  10.)  The  church  can  present  to 
the  Lord  of  the  harvest  the  full  tithe  of  faith, 
hope,  effort,  gift,  prayer.  And  the  God  of 
both  nature  and  grace  will  fulfil  his  promise : 
"I  will  rebuke  the  devourer  for  your  sakes, 
and  he  shall  not  destroy  the  fruits  of  your 
ground ;  neither  shall  your  vine  cast  her  fruit 
before  the  time  in  the  field,  saith  the  Lord  of 
hosts."  The  seed  shall  be  protected  from  its 
many  foes,  safe-guarded  against  the  numerous 
dangers  that  beset  it ;  and  the  fostering  influ- 


WEATHER-WISE.  265 

ences  of  beneficent  winds  and  sun  and  rain 
shall  be  granted  to  it.  There  is  this  analogy 
between  the  operations  of  the  agriculturist  and 
the  labors  of  the  Christian  preacher,  that  both 
depend  for  ultimate  success  upon  forces  be- 
yond their  own  control ;  both  necessarily  run 
some  hazard  of  failure  and  waste  of  toil  and 
material ;  but  both  can  rely  upon  the  pledged 
faithfulness  of  Grod  that  the  labor  and  expen- 
diture shall  not  be  altogether  vain.  Both  may 
look  for  an  abundant  return. 


WEATHEE-WISE. 


"  He  that  observeth  the  wind  shall  not  sow ;  and  he  that 
regardeth  the  clouds  shall  not  reap." — Eccles.  xi.  4. 

Work  was  once  the  recreation  of  Paradise ; 
it  is  now  the  stern  necessity  of  daily  life.  It 
is  the  tax  we  pay  for  life.  Out  of  labor  spring 
comfort  and  enjoyment.  Secular  duties  need 
not  be  distinct  from  piety.  A  religious  motive 
and  end  may  secure  the  divine  blessing.  No 
man  has  a  charter  to  be  idle.  Men  of  the  most 
ample  estates  are  stewards,  and  should  be  ser- 
vants of  God.  Wealth,  exempt  from  daily 
toil,  opens  a  thousand  doors  of  usefulness. 
He  who,  through  past  diligence  and  prudence, 


266  THANKSGIVING   SERMONS. 

has  reaped  a  competency  may  produce  the 
most  enduring  fruits  even  in  old  age. 

1.  The  text  exhibits  the  indolent  and 
undecided.  The  Wise  Man  represents  a  hus- 
bandman intending  to  sow  his  seed;  but  the 
wind  is  too  fierce  or  gustful,  and  he  fears  the 
seed  will  not  be  uniformly  scattered,  or  it  will 
be  mixed  with  other  kinds  or  carried  over  into 
his  neighbor's  fields.  He  waits  for  better 
atmospheric  symptoms,  and  seed-time  passes 
away.  The  same  truth  is  taught  by  the 
clouds.  The  husbandman  should  trust  the 
promise,  "While  the  earth  remaineth,  seed- 
time and  harvest  shall  not  fail ; "  even  so  the 
spiritual  husbandman  needs  faith  in  the  seed 
of  the  kingdom,  the  life-giving  power  of  the 
gospel,  the  potencies  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  etc. 

(a)  Inaction  may  spring  from  indolence. 
What  can  be  more  unworthy  of  man  than  to 
bury  himself  alive  in  indolence  ?  An  idle  man 
is  dead  while  he  liveth,  and  has  not  received 
the  honors  of  decent  interment.  To  have 
powers  and  not  to  use  them  is  robbing  Grod 
and  man ;  to  use  them  amiss  is  rebellion  against 
the  King  of  kings.  The  idle  man  has  virtually 
outlawed  himself.  Private  diligence  is  a  pub- 
lic good,  for  the  careful  management  of  every 
man's  estate  is  advantageous  to  the  whole. 

Spiritual   idleness  prevails.      There  is 


WEATHEE-WISE.  267 

little  room  to  complain  of  idleness  in  temporal 
things.  How  many  diligent  in  business  are  at 
ease  in  Zion  !  How  many  flourishing  in  busi- 
ness are  in  spiritual  bankruptcy!  We  see 
their  growing  wealth,  adding  house  to  house, 
when,  in  "  their  growing  riches,"  their  heart  is 
not  in  their  religion.  Some  act  as  though  the 
body  and  soul  were  all  hearing ;  as  if  religion 
dwelt  alone  in  the  temple,  or  had  to  be  used 
only  on  the  Sabbath.  St.  Jerome  says,  "  The 
husbandman  may  pray  and  praise  the  Lord, 
and  sing  halleluiah  at  the  plow."  St.  Augus- 
tine says,  "  One  prayer  of  an  obedient  man 
who  walketh  in  his  calling  according  to  rules 
shall  sooner  be  heard  of  Grod  than  ten  thousand 
from  him  who  maketh  his  diligence  to  keep 
one  commandment  a  privilege  and  warrant  to 
break  the  rest."  Occupations  vary :  some  are 
so  mechanical  that  they  may  admit  of  consec- 
utive thought  on  religious  subjects;  others, 
e.g.,  man  at  wheel,  switchman  at  signal,  artist 
at  portrait,  demand  constant  attention.  But 
all  can  be  done  unto  the  Lord.  The  more  a 
business  takes  us  into  a  wilderness  of  evils 
the  more  should  we  redeem  each  supernumer- 
ary moment  for  the  Lord. 

(h)  The  words  may  mean  excessive  pru- 
dence. The  text  has  a  connection  with  the 
first  and  second  verses :  "  Cast  thy  bread,"  etc. ; 


268  THANKSGWING   SERMONS. 

*^  Give  a  portion  to  seven,  and  also  to  eight." 
That  is,  never  cease  giving  if  you  have  the 
means  and  see  a  person  in  distress,  or  never 
cease  working  while  there  is  a  duty  waiting 
near.  The  lesson  seems  to  be  that  we  are  not  to 
be  too  scrupulous  in  inquiring  into  the  charac- 
ter of  the  poor,  distressed,  and  needy.  Fitness 
to  receive  charity  need  not  mean  worthiness. 
If  we  wait  until  real  merit  claim  charity  we  may 
wait  long,  while  our  charity  will  die,  like  the 
sufferers  unrelieved.  The  household  of  faith 
must  have  first  care;  they  are  of  the  same 
family.  Real  charity  goes  beyond.  Prudent 
you  ought  to  be,  righteous  you  must  be.  You 
dare  not  send  the  drunkard  back  to  his  intem^ 
perance,  encourage  the  indolent  in  bis  vice. 
Blend  justice  and  mercy  in  all  their  elements 
of  strength  and  beauty.  Grod  will  teach  you, 
if  you  are  ready  to  learn  of  him.  Better  to 
entertain  one  angel  unawares  and  be  deceived 
by  a  crowd  of  impostors  than  to  lose  the  bless- 
ing of  the  angel's  visit.  Better  that  all  the 
objects  of  your  bounty  should  prove  unworthy 
than  that  the  divine  principle  of  charity  should 
languish  in  your  souls.  If  all  were  angels  they 
would  not  require  your  food,  clothes,  or  money. 
It  may  he  applied  to  some  cliurclies. 
They  regard  the  clouds.  Some  material  develop- 
inent  is  required — schools,  churches,  to  be  built 


WEATHEE-WISE.  269 

or  enlarged.  All  admit  necessity,  but  the  time 
is  not  come — have  done  so  much,  let  other 
churches  do  their  share.  The  wealthiest  are 
not  willing ;  we  are  not  all  of  one  mind.  Thus 
the  Lord's  work  tarries  at  bidding  of  human 
convenience  or  whim  or  prejudice;  opportu- 
nities are  lost,  never  to  be  recovered.  Some 
have  tarried  for  months,  and  the  cause  has 
suffered  for  generations.  While  men  linger 
the  divine  glory  is  waiting  to  depart. 

It  may  apply  to  spiritual  prospects. 
Churches  waiting  for  a  revival.  The  work 
of  preparation  is  not  commenced ;  bickerings, 
jealousies,  slanderings,  misunderstandings  rife. 
If  everything  were  as  we  want  it  to  be  a 
revival  would  not  be  needed.  They  set  God 
a  time.  Diseases  are  not  cured  by  studying 
them,  but  by  going  to  the  physician ;  even  so 
deploring  the  state  of  church  will  not  heal,  ex- 
cept we  go  to  the  Great  Physician.  Men  would 
laugh  at  a  farmer  who  in  time  of  drought 
would  employ  his  men  in  filling  up  with  soil 
the  cracks  in  the  baked  soil,  or  who  sent  horses 
and  men  with  vessels  to  a  river  to  pour  water 
over  wide  acres  of  drooping  corn ;  they  would 
know  that  one  good  shower  would  cure  all. 
Even  so  we  must  ask  God  to  "  open  the  win- 
dows of  heaven." 

It  may  apply  to  conversion  of  individ- 


270  THANKSGIVING   SEKMONS. 

uals.  To  those  who  put  off  the  day  of  salva- 
tion— who  believe  in  a  modified  kind  of  pre- 
destination ;  some  supreme  moment  when  they 
must  be  saved.  This  doctrine  is  dangerous  in 
itself,  but  its  partial  belief  makes  it  more  dan- 
gerous. The  Sunday  scholar  intends  to  be 
saved  when  he  gets  to  the  select  class;  then 
when  he  has  served  his  time  or  taken  his  de- 
grees; and  so  on  through  commencing  busi- 
ness, getting  it  well  in  hand,  establishing  his 
family,  winning  competency.  Satan  is  always 
near  to  manufacture  excuses,  but  no  excuse  is 
excusable  if  we  neglect  our  great  salvation. 
Godliness  is  at  all  times  a  great  gain,  but  those 
who  come  earliest  get  it  most  readily.  True 
repentance  is  seldom  too  late ;  but  late  repen- 
tance is  seldom  true.  God,  who  has  given  you 
all  your  days,  deserves  at  least  your  best  days. 
Don't  wait  until  in  unavailing  regret  you  say : 

"  My  heart  is  very  tired,  my  strength  is  low, 
My  hands  are  full  of  blossoms  plucked  before, 
Held  dead  within  them  till  myself  shall  die." 

2,  Folly  seen  when  we  consider  that 
the  present  alone  is  ours.  God  is  frugal  of 
time ;  gives  but  one  moment  at  a  time ;  does 
not  give  a  second  until  he  withdraws  the  first. 
The  best  way  to  prepare  for  the  last  moment 
is  to  use  the  present  well.     Too  often  we  dote 


WEATHER-WISE.  271 

upon  the  present  hour  as  if  it  would  never 
end,  and  neglect  the  next  as  if  it  would  never 
begin.  Time  is  the  bud,  eternity  the  bloom; 
time  the  chrysalis  from  which  springs  eternity. 
Present  faithfulness  is  a  promissory  note  to 
be  paid  in  eternity  in  heaven's  best  coin. 
Though  God  gives  us  so  little  time  he  gives 
us  enough ;  short  as  it  is,  it  contains  precious 
possibilities.  The  body-guard  of  the  Eternal 
King,  in  all  their  loyal  love  and  zeal,  could  not 
do  so  much  for  our  soul's  eternal  weal  as  these 
moments  which  pass  over  some  unheeded,  as 
the  sunbeam  or  passing  breeze.  Time  is  the 
seed-sowing  of  an  eternal  harvest.  He  is  the 
greatest  spendthrift  who  spends  time,  for  he 
who  squanders  time  wastes  all  the  bliss  which 
eternity  contains.  To  the  indolent  time  moves 
too  slowly,  for  he  has  never  appraised  its 
value;  to  the  Christian  too  swiftly,  for  he 
knows  how  to  stamp  on  each  moment  the  im- 
pressions of  eternity. 

Regularity  of  nature  encourages  the  farmer, 
but  it  may  mislead  those  who  think  that  length 
of  days  must  be  theirs,  that  gracious  opportu- 
nity must  come  with  constancy  of  the  seasons. 
God  has  a  right  to  set  bounds  beyond  which 
we  cannot  pass.  "Now  unto  the  King  eter- 
nal, immortal."    (1  Tim.  i.  17.) 


272  THANKSGIVING   SEEMONS. 


THE   SECRET   GROWTH  OF  THE 
SEED. 

"For  the  earth  bringeth  forth  fruit  of  herself;  first  the 
blade,  then  the  ear,  after  that  the  full  corn  in  the  ear." — 
Mark  iv.  28. 

1.  All  growth  is  a  mystery. 

Look  at  a  harvest-field;  what  a  profound 
mystery  it  is !  After  a  man  has  done  all  his 
work  and  taken  all  his  precautions ;  after  sci- 
ence has  taught  him  all  it  knows  about  soils 
and  suitable  manures  and  the  best  methods  of 
culture,  what  does  he  know!  When  he  is 
awake  and  watching  he  cannot  understand; 
when  he  is  asleep  and  unconscious  the  growth 
goes  on.  Our  efforts  do  not  produce  the  life. 
When  we  sow  we  cast  the  seed  into  the  keep- 
ing of  a  higher  Power. 

So  is  it  with  all  growth.  Take  the  little 
child.  We  may  use  our  means,  but  what  a 
mystery  there  is  beyond  them  all!  Can  we, 
with  all  the  proud  achievements  of  so  many 
centuries,  add  one  cubit  to  any  man's  stature  ? 
Who  can  explain  how  the  food  is  transmuted 
into  flesh  and  bone,  and,  more  than  this,  how 
the  food  helps  to  develop  the  immaterial  power 
to  understand  and  think  ?  Yes,  and  further  still, 
we  may  ask,  How  does  it  help  to  develop  love, 


THE  SECRET  GEOWTH  OF  THE  SEED.   273 

sympathy,  purity,  likeness  to  God!  What  a 
difference  between  the  religion  of  the  child  and 
the  saintly  man !  The  food  has  enabled  him 
to  progress  from  the  one  point  to  the  other. 

If  you  put  a  seed  of  iron  into  the  ground, 
and,  lying  there,  it  gathered  materials  to  itself 
and  produced,  of  itself,  a  complicated  locomo- 
tive, all  would  go  and  pay  money  to  see  it. 
Such  a  wonder  would  be  in  no  degree  more 
wonderful  than  the  growth  of  an  ear  of  corn. 
It  would  not  be  half  so  wonderful  as  the 
growth  of  any  child. 

Need  we  be  surprised,  then,  that  the  divine 
life  is  a  mystery  to  us ! 

2,  Growth  is  slow. 

The  child  is  eager  and  impatient  and  expects 
what  he  sows  to  spring  up  immediately.  Men, 
too,  are  often  fussy  and  anxious  about  their 
concerns,  and  want  growth  to  develop  in  all 
haste — in  a  night,  like  Jonah's  gourd.  We  are 
impatient  of  processes  and  in  a  hurry  to  grasp 
results.  But  if  you  try  to  hasten  growth  with 
human  expedients,  the  increased  speed  is  at 
the  expense  of  strength  and  durability.  What 
rapidly  grows  quickly  perishes ;  what  is  to  last 
long  is  of  slow  development.  Rome  is  not 
built  in  a  day.  The  oak  attains  its  massive 
size  and  its  giant  strength  not  suddenly,  but 
by  some  hundred  years  of  slow  and  steady 


274  THANKSGIVING  SEKMONS. 

growth.  God  aims  at  perfection  and  works 
for  eternity,  therefore  there  is  no  hurry  with 
him. 

Are  we  surprised  that  growth  in  the  divine 
life  in  the  soul  is  slow?  Do  not  be  disheart- 
ened at  mistakes  and  at  failures.  Do  not  ex- 
pect a  fully  developed  Christian  sanctity  all  at 
once. 

3.  Growth  is  orderly. 

"  First  the  blade,  then  the  ear,  after  that  the 
full  corn  in  the  ear."  Each  in  its  place,  each 
preparing  for  what  is  to  come  after.  We  see 
this  orderly  development  in  all  life:  in  the 
plant,  in  the  growth  of  a  child,  and  in  the  suc- 
cessive steps  of  the  Christian  life.  In  Chris- 
tian growth  it  is  first  the  simpler  virtues  and 
then  the  varied  high  qualities  of  a  true  Chris- 
tian manhood.  See  the  progressive  steps  as 
described  by  St.  Peter  (2  Pet.  i.  5-7). 

4.  Growth  is  continuous. 

Sleeping  and  waking,  night  and  day,  the 
growth  goes  on.  It  is  so  in  the  corn ;  it  is  so 
in  the  child. 

The  changes  which  pass  over  nature  do  not 
hinder  this.  Every  year  we  have  such  differ- 
ences of  atmospheric  conditions  as  might  well 
seem  fatal  to  the  continuance  of  delicate  vege- 
table life.  But  the  growth  goes  on.  We  find 
in  time  that  the  very  changes  which  might  at 


THE  SECRET  GKOWTH  OF  THE  SEED.   275 

first  seem  hurtful  are  really  helpful  for  the  de- 
velopment of  the  life.  Night  as  well  as  day, 
the  winter  snow  and  the  summer  sun,  all  have 
their  place  and  do  their  work  in  helping  this 
continuous  growth. 

So  is  it  with  the  changes  which  come  to  us 
in  life  which  seem  sad,  which  we  may  even 
shrink  from  with  dread;  yet  the  Christian 
growth  within  goes  on  in  spite  of  them.  Nay, 
we  often  find  that  the  things  which  seemed 
most  hurtful  to  us  are  those  which,  under 
God's  providence,  most  helped  forward  the 
growth  of  the  spiritual  life. 

The  great  truth  taught  in  this  parable  is 
that  all  growth  is  a  mystery  to  us.  It  is  so  in 
the  corn  and  in  the  child,  and  still  more  so 
when  we  try  to  study  the  divine  life  in  a  hu- 
man soul.  The  germ  of  truth  and  righteous- 
ness is  planted  within  us  by  God's  loving  care. 
It  goes  on  developing  while  we  are  sleeping 
and  waking,  we  know  not  how.  Our  anxiety 
and  fussy  impatience  cannot  hasten  it.  A 
power  outside  us  does  its  own  great  and  benef- 
icent work.  As  the  corn  and  the  lily  grow  by 
a  power  within  themselves,  so  the  divine  life 
within  us  has  a  spontaneous,  inherent  energy 
of  its  own.  You  cannot  make  them  grow  by 
any  or  all  your  efforts ;  you  can  only  help  to 
supply  suitable  conditions.    The  lesson  of  the 


276  THANKSGIVING   SERMONS. 

parable  is  not  about  the  influence  of  the  soil, 
the  sunlight,  and  the  rain — that  influence  is 
implied ;  but  the  main  truth  is  that  the  power 
of  growth  is  in  the  thing  itself,  and  is  not  im- 
parted to  it  by  any  external  agency. 

So  it  is  with  the  divine  life.  The  seed  of 
truth  grows  within  us  by  virtue  of  its  own  in- 
herent energy.  It  only  wants  suitable  condi- 
tions and  it  will  grow.  Do  not  be  afraid  to 
trust  to  that  power.  Do  not  be  over-anxious. 
Expect  everything  from  God,  but  do  not  ex- 
pect everything  at  once.  All  the  development 
of  that  higher  life  will  come,  if  you  will  be 
patient  and  trusting.  In  his  own  time,  in  his 
own  order,  the  growth  will  go  on  till  the 
ripened  ears  wave  in  their  beauty  ready  for 
the  reaper's  sickle,  and  till  the  true  Christian 
life,  humble,  trusting,  saintly,  waits  the  Mas- 
ter's call,  and  is  ready  for  the  garner  in  the 
heavenly  habitations. 


GOD  SUPPLYING  HUMAN  NEED. 

"  My  God  shall  supply  all  your  need  according  to  his  riches 
in  glory  by  Christ  Jesus." — Phil.  iv.  19. 

The  Philippian  church  had  sent  gifts  to  St. 
Paul  during  his  imprisonment  at  Eome.  The 
Apostle  acknowledged  their  love  and  liberality 


GOD   SUPPLYING  HUMAN   NEED.  277 

with  a  grateful  heart.  He  did  not  covet  their 
gifts — the  spirit  of  the  hireling  had  no  place 
in  his  heart — yet  he  received  them  thankfully : 

1.  Because  of  the  principle  involved — 
the  laborer  was  worthy  of  his  hire.  They 
who  preach  the  gospel  shall  live  of  the  gospel. 
This  is  true  and  binding  on  all  ages. 

2.  Because  the  offering  was  a  mark  of 
their  love  for  him.  While  he  did  not  want 
the  gift,  he  was  grateful  for  the  love  which 
offered  it. 

The  thought  of  the  gift  suggested  the  words 
of  the  text.  God  knew  their  liberality  and 
self-denial.  The  service  offered  to  the  Apostle 
in  his  need  would  be  remembered  and  re- 
warded. (Luke  vi.  38.)  St.  Paul  could  make 
no  return,  but  God  would  surely  repay  them. 

1.  The  fact — Grod  would  supply  all  their 
need. 

How  many  and  how  varied  are  the  needs  of 
men !  There  is  little  need  to  enlarge  on  such 
a  theme,  for  experience  teaches  us  surely  and 
sometimes  bitterly  enough. 

There  are  the  wants  of  the  body.  Food  and 
raiment  are  daily  needs.  Life,  with  its  mani- 
fold activities,  is  a  consuming  thing,  and  fresh 
supplies  are  conditions  of  its  continued  exis- 
tence. 

God  supplies  even  all  these  needs  of  ours. 


278  THANKSGIVING   SERMONS. 

How  wonderfully  and  how  liberally  lie  is  al- 
ways doing  this !  What  a  marvelous  store- 
house this  world  is !  The  earth  and  the  sea 
are  teeming  with  the  living  things  on  which 
the  more  complex  life  of  man  is  sustained. 

Our  own  toil  must  not  blind  our  eyes  to 
this  truth — for  what  do  we  work  upon  !  We 
create  nothing.  All  our  labor  is  but  fashion- 
ing, for  immediate  use,  the  substances  which 
we  find  ready  to  our  hands.  If  Grod's  world 
gave  us  not  its  manifold  produce  all  human 
industries  would  immediately  collapse,  all  hu- 
man life  would  speedily  end. 

We  may  think,  then,  of  our  Master's  teach- 
ing— how  the  birds  of  the  air  are  fed,  how  the 
lilies  of  the  field  bloom  with  their  marvelous 
beauty;  much  more  will  the  same  divine 
bounty  provide  for  us.  The  testimony  to  the 
psalmist's  experience  (xxxvii.  25)  is  ever  ac- 
cumulating, generation  after  generation. 

Then  there  are  the  deeper  needs  of  the  soul. 

We  are  defiled  with  sin.  The  divine  image 
in  us  is  dim,  well-nigh  effaced.  We  want 
cleansing  and  renewal.  The  fetters  of  sin 
must  be  broken  for  us ;  we  cannot  break  them 
ourselves.  We  want  grace  and  strength  plant- 
ed in  the  soul  to  enable  us  to  fight  life's  battles 
as  good  soldiers  of  Christ  Jesus.  Whence  can 
such  needs  be  supplied!    The  world  has  its 


GOD  SUPPLYING  HUMAN  NEED.     279 

remedies — education,  thrift,  music,  temper- 
ance, and  so  on,  all  good  in  their  place,  but 
all  powerless  to  heal  the  plague  of  sin.  We 
may  drink  of  these  waters,  but  we  shall  thirst 
again.  Experience  teaches  that  all  human 
remedies  are  blundering  and  impotent;  but 
God  in  mercy  supplies  our  spiritual  need.  His 
grace  brings  cleansing,  healing,  and  newness 
of  life  to  the  soul. 

2.  The  iiistrumentality  by  which  God 
supplies  it — "  by  Christ  Jesus." 

God  is  everywhere  present.  While  distinctly 
a  person,  he  surrounds  us  like  the  atmosphere 
in  which  we  dwell.  "In  him  we  live  and 
move,"  in  more  senses,  perchance,  than  we  com- 
monly think  of.  He  is  everywhere  present, 
like  the  light  which  jB.lls  the  broad  universe; 
no  nook  or  cranny  is  hidden  from  it.  But 
this,  to  most  of  us,  is  an  abstraction.  We 
know  that  we  live  ever  in  that  divine  presence, 
and  yet  we  think  but  little  of  it.  The  faith 
faculty,  by  which  alone  we  can  apprehend  it, 
is  small.  How  is  this  to  become  real  to  us? 
What  connecting-link  can  there  be  between  us 
and  God  I  How  can  finite  manhood  meet  and 
touch  the  Infinite?  What  channel  can  reach 
from  heaven  to  earth ! 

God  has  mercifully  put  this  truth  before  us 
in  a  concrete  form,  not  in  the  shape  of  doc- 


280  THANKSGIVING  SEEMONS. 

trine  only,  but  by  a  living  person.  Just  as  a 
burning  glass  gathers  the  scattered  rays  of 
light  into  one  focus  whereby  the  presence  and 
power  of  the  light  become  the  more  manifest, 
so  in  Christ  Jesus  we  have  the  Deity  which 
fills  the  broad  universe  manifest  in  a  living 
person.  Through  his  earthly  ministry  divine 
grace  shines  upon  us,  and  the  light  of  heaven 
falls  in  a  bright  focal  stream  upon  a  sin-dark- 
ened earth.  This  is  historically  true.  He  is 
"  the  Word  made  flesh."  (1  Cor.  i.  30 ;  Col.  ii. 
3 ;  Eph.  ii. ;  Col.  ii.) 

3,  In  what  measure  will  God  supply 
man's  need  ? 

How  will  God  give  ?  With  stinting,  grudg- 
ing, niggardly  hand*?  Nay,  but  according  to 
the  perfection  of  his  nature  and  his  divine 
greatness.     (Eph.  i.  7.,  iii.  8,  16.) 

Look  at  the  world.  Has  God  created  those 
things  only  which  are  sufficient  for  our  wants  ! 
Nay,  the  world  is  teeming  with  life  and  is  full 
of  beauty.  Gorgeous  coloring,  richest  per- 
fumes are  scattered  everywhere,  not  for  the 
supply  of  man's  wants,  but  to  give  him  plea- 
sure and  to  gratify  the  instinct  in  him  which 
appreciates  the  perfect  and  admires  the  beau- 
tiful. Everywhere,  and  in  all  ways,  God  has 
given  with  the  boundless  exuberance  of  love. 

So,  too,  does  God  give  in  grace.  See  the 
pictures  of  this  in  the  old  dispensation:  the 


GOD   SUPPLYING  HUMAN   NEED.  281 

water  flowing  from  the  smitten  rock,  not  a 
little  stream,  but  sufficient  for  all  the  mighty 
multitude,  for  all  their  flocks  and  herds,  for 
all  their  wants ;  the  manna. 

These  pictures  are  fulfilled  in  the  new  cove- 
nant. Look  at  Christ.  He  gave  gifts  and 
bestowed  blessings  in  the  same  lavish,  loving 
way.  When  he  fed  the  five  thousand  was  it 
with  just  a  scanty  supply  for  each !  Nay,  but 
after  they  had  all  eaten  and  were  filled  they 
took  up  of  the  fragments  which  were  left 
twelve  baskets  full.  So  was  it  ever :  not  one 
miracle  or  one  of  a  kind,  but  he  was  ever 
healing.  Multitudes  making  their  eager  de- 
mands upon  him  in  no  degree  impaired  the 
fullness  of  his  grace  and  power.  A  very  foun- 
tain of  mercy  was  opened  which  all  the  needs 
of  men  could  not  exhaust.  Day  by  day  they 
brought  the  sick  and  the  suffering  to  him,  and 
virtue  ever  went  out  of  him  to  heal  them  all. 

The  text  teaches  us  a  great  lesson.  It  would 
plant  faith  and  hope  and  courage  in  every 
earnest  heart.  Are  we  looking  forward  to  a 
dark  future  with  foreboding  heart?  Are  the 
clouds  above  us  black  and  threatening,  and 
the  path  before  us  arid  and  desert-like  ?  Are 
we  cast  down  and  disquieted?  (Ps.  xlii.  5.) 
We  must  have  faith  in  God.  He  will  supply 
all  our  need,  whatever  the  need  may  be.  He 
is  our  sun  and  shield,  our  light  in  the  world's 


282  THANKSGIVING  SERMONS. 

darkness,  our  defense  in  the  world's  danger. 
We  are  weak  in  ourselves.  We  may  always 
be  strong  in  him.  We  may  trust  him  at  all 
times  and  for  all  things.  In  quiet  days  he 
leads  us  in  green  pastures  and  by  the  still 
waters.  In  the  dark  valley  he  is  with  us  to 
support  and  comfort  us.  In  strife  and  danger 
he  prepares  our  table  in  the  very  presence  of 
our  enemies.     (Ps.  xxiii.) 

We  may  trust  him  at  all  times  and  for  all 
things.  God's  power  and  wisdom  and  love  are 
all  infinite.  You  can  no  more  exhaust  his 
fullness  than  you  can  exhaust  the  depths  of 
the  sea.  He  will  supply  all  your  need  accord- 
ing to  the  measure  of  his  own  greatness  by 
Jesus  Christ. 

My  Grod — St.  Paul's  personal  experience  of 
God's  loving  care  is  the  assurance  that  they 
too  will  be  watched  over  and  provided  for. 


PEAISE. 

"  O  Lord,  I  will  praise  thee  :  .  .  .  the  Lord  Jehovah  is  my 
strength  and  my  song.  .  .  .  Sing  unto  the  Lord ;  for  he  hath 
done  excellent  things  :  this  is  known  in  all  the  earth." — Isa. 
xii.  1,  2,  5. 

This  whole  chapter  is  a  song  of  praise.  Joy, 
gladness,  thanksgiving,  sparkle  in  every  verse 


PRAISE.  283 

of  it.  And  yet  how  little  we  hear  of  this  praise 
in  ordinary  life !  Perhaps  we  may  add,  How 
seldom  do  we  find  it  bursting  forth  from  our 
own  hearts!  Our  thoughts  generally  center 
upon  ourselves.  When  we  praise,  ourselves, 
our  families,  our  connections,  and  not  Grod, 
are  too  frequently  the  objects  of  it.  Look  at 
verses  3  and  4.  Would  that  that  day  had 
come! 

Praise  itself  is  uncommon.  Listen  to  the 
ordinary  talk  of  every-day  life,  and,  as  Lord 
Bacon  says,  you  shall  hear  more  hearse-like 
airs  than  carols.  We  may  go  a  step  further 
and  say  praise  is  not  natural  to  us. 

The  prophet's  grounds  of  praise  were  not 
found  in  those  gifts  and  possessions  which 
are,  and  probably  must  be,  unequally  distrib- 
uted here  on  earth :  not  unbroken  health,  large 
means,  commanding  intellect,  denied  to  the 
many,  but  bestowed  upon  him ;  not  these,  but 
the  priceless  spiritual  possessions  which  God 
offers  with  loving  bounty  to  every  man  with- 
out respect  of  persons.  They  are  offered,  like 
all  God's  greatest  gifts,  not  only  bountifully, 
but  freely ;  like  the  air,  like  the  sunlight,  with- 
out money  and  without  price. 

The  blessings  specified  in  the  chapter  are ; 

1.  The  sense  of  forgiveness  (verse  1). 

2,  The  sense  of  assurance  (verse  2). 


284  THANKSGIVING  SERMONS. 

"We  have  one  great  common  blessing,  a  gift 
which  is  year  by  year  repeated :  the  produce  of 
the  earth  which  we  gather  in  in  the  harvest, 
and  by  which  man's  hfe  is  sustained.  We 
want  to  think  of  the  importance  of  this  pro- 
duce, and  to  feel  that  it  is  God's  gift,  because 
that  is  the  only  true  basis  for  a  thanksgiving 
service. 

When  mercy  is  realized,  then  thanksgiving 
must  be  the  inevitable  result.  When  we  find, 
by  happy  experience,  that  Jehovah  is  our 
strength,  then  the  grateful  heart  says  that 
he  also  shall  be  its  song.  True  thanksgiving 
touches  every  part  of  our  being.  It  does  not 
limit  itself  to  merely  barren  words ;  it  is  fruit- 
ful in  acts  of  self-sacrifice  and  love.  We  show 
forth  God's  praise  "  not  only  with  our  lips,  but 
in  our  lives,  by  giving  up  ourselves  to  his  ser- 
vice." 

What  a  picture  of  deepest  thankfulness  we 
have  in  the  woman  that  was  a  sinner.  See 
her  eyes  red  with  weeping,  her  hair  streaming 
and  disheveled  as  she  knelt  before  Christ  with 
deep  humility  and  yet  with  adoring  love,  that 
she  might  wash  his  feet  with  her  tears  and 
wipe  them  with  the  hair  of  her  head.  See  her 
breaking  the  alabaster  box  and  pouring  the 
precious  ointment  on  his  head.  Why  these 
lavish  expressions  of  love?    Because  of  the 


PKAISE.  285 

greatness  of  the  mercies  she  had  received. 
Much  had  been  forgiven  her,  and  therefore 
her  love  was  great. 

The  Feast  of  Tabernacles — a  great,  bright, 
joyful  thanksgiving  for  God's  yearly  gifts  in 
nature.  They  felt  it  was  divine  bounty  which 
blessed  the  national  life  and  sustained  them 
all. 

It  must  be  so.  Where  great  mercies  have 
been  received  they  must  manifest  themselves 
in  both  public  and  private  thanksgiving.  As 
may  be  seen  on  some  calm  summer  day  by  the 
sea-shore,  when  looking  out  on  the  bosom  of 
the  great  deep — far  as  the  eye  can  reach,  it  is 
bright  and  radiant  as  a  sea  mingled  with  fire ; 
every  breaking  wave  sparkles  with  diamond- 
like luster  in  its  ceaseless  motion.  Whence 
comes  all  its  glittering  beauty?  It  is  only 
giving  back  to  the  earth  and  sky  the  bright- 
ness which  it  has  received  from  the  noonday 
sun. 

So  if  we  have  received  God's  precious  gifts, 
if  we  are  conscious  of  the  blessing  of  them  to 
us,  they  must  manifest  themselves  in  our  lives. 
If  the  love  of  God  is  shining  upon  our  hearts, 
the  brightness  will  diffuse  itself  around  us. 
It  must  be  reflected  back  to  God,  from  whom 
it  came,  in  words  of  praise  and  in  deeds  of 
love. 


286  THANKSGIVING   SEKMONS. 

In  all  our  praise,  in  all  onr  benevolence,  we 
are  only  giving  back  to  God  a  part  of  that 
which  we  have  so  freely  received  from  him. 

Thanksgiving  is  the  result  of  God's  great 
gifts  to  us  in  nature. 


THE  MORAL  LESSONS   OF  THE 
HARVEST. 

"  Break  up  your  fallow  ground,  and  sow  not  among  thorns." 
— Jer.  iv.  3. 

1.  Preparation.  When  you  see  a  corn- 
field, you  know  the  corn  did  not  always  grow 
there.  The  land  had  to  be  cleared  and  plowed. 
The  wilderness  will  not  blossom  as  the  rose  by 
itself.  The  obstacles  must  be  removed  out  of 
the  path  of  the  beautiful  and  useful  before 
they  will  come  and  possess  the  world. 

So  is  it  in  human  education,  in  ordinary 
business,  and  in  all  the  training  of  human 
character  in  higher  things.  If  the  Lord  is  to 
come  to  us  and  dwell  within  us,  we  must  pre- 
pare the  way  for  him  and  make  his  paths 
straight. 

A  turning  away  from  evil  before  we  can 
walk  in  newness  of  life. 

2.  Labor.  "  And  the  Feast  of  Harvest,  the 
first-fruits  of  thy  labors,  which  thou  hast  sown 


THE  MOEAL  LESSONS   OF  THE  HARVEST.  287 

in  the  field:  and  the  Feast  of  Ingathering, 
which  is  in  the  end  of  the  year,  when  thou  hast 
gathered  in  thy  labors  out  of  the  field."  (Exod. 
xxiii.  16.) 

The  harvest,  while  the  gift  of  Grod,  is  also 
the  reward  of  man's  toil.  God  has  so  ordered 
it  that  many  of  his  precious  gifts  shall  come 
to  us  through  the  channel  of  human  effort. 
How  great  the  toil  in  the  sowing  and  the  reap- 
ing, from  morn  till  night,  day  after  day !  But 
how  ample  is  the  reward ! 

"In  all  labor  there  is  profit."  Not  only  in 
agriculture,  but  in  every  part  of  human  life. 
What  we  sow  of  good,  in  toil  and  perhaps  even 
in  tears,  we  shall  reap  in  joy. 

3.  Patience.  "Behold,  the  husbandman 
waiteth  for  the  precious  fruit  of  the  earth,  and 
hath  long  patience  for  it,  until  he  receive  the 
early  and  latter  rain.  Be  ye  also  patient." 
(James  v.  7,  8.) 

The  seed  is  cast  from  the  sower's  hand  out 
of  sight;  seems  for  a  time  to  be  lost.  The 
husbandman  waits.  After  a  while  it  appears ; 
even  then  the  growth  is  slow,  and  many  alien 
influences  are  at  work.  He  waits.  He  does 
not  wait  in  vain. 

Be  ye  patient  in  all  things :  growth  is  always 
slow.     Do  not  be  in  a  hurry  to  be  rich. 

Be  patient  in  moral  things :  growth  in  good- 


288  THANKSGIVING   SEKMONS. 

ness  is  slow ;  you  must  not  expect  to  become 
a  complete  saint  in  a  day. 

4.  Hope    and    trust    always.      "I    had 

fainted,  unless  I  had  believed  to  see  the  good- 
ness of  the  Lord  in  the  land  of  the  living. 
Wait  on  the  Lord :  be  of  good  courage,  and  he 
shall  strengthen  thine  heart:  wait,  I  say,  on 
the  Lord."     (Ps.  xxvii.  13, 14.) 

Courage,  hope,  belief  in  the  goodness  of  God 
are  the  great  supports  of  human  life. 

That  divine  goodness  will  never  fail  his  true 
children.  The  harvest  will  surely  come.  The 
toil  will  be  crowned  with  rich  reward.  The 
sheaves  shall  be  brought  home  in  due  time. 

So  will  it  be,  also,  in  all  other  parts  of  our 
life. 


NATUEE  WAITING  UPON  GOD. 

"  The  eyes  of  all  wait  upon  thee ;  and  thou  givest  them 
their  meat  in  due  season." — Ps.  cxlv.  15. 

Nature,  animate  and  inanimate,  depends 
upon  God  for  the  supply  of  all  wants.  This 
is  true  of  the  animals.     (Ps.  civ.  21 ;  Joel  i.  20.) 

Man,  with  larger  knowledge,  trusts  and 
prays:  "Give  us  this  day  our  daily  bread." 
God  hears  the  cry.  He  knows  the  need  and 
mercifully  supplies  it.    He  gives : 


NATUEE  WAITING  UPON   GOD.  289 

1.  What  is  good.  "They  are  filled  with 
good." 

He  bestows  what  is  suitable  to  our  physical 
condition.  There  is  a  wonderful  adaptation 
between  our  need  and  the  supply  which  the 
world  produces.  The  wants  of  different  crea- 
tures are  various  indeed,  but  every  one  of 
them  finds  his  suitable  food. 

The  gifts  of  nature  are  fitted  for  every  kind 
and  order  of  life. 

2.  In  abundance.  There  is  no  stint  in 
nature.  Even  the  "  hired  servants  have  bread 
enough  and  to  spare."  Man,  and  the  lower 
creatures  of  all  ranks,  are  "filled  with  good." 
"  God  opens  his  hand,  and  satisfies  the  desire 
of  every  living  thing."  "  He  fills  us  with  the 
finest  of  the  wheat." 

3.  Year  by  year — regularly.  As  the  need 
is  unceasing  so  the  supply  is  unceasing  too. 
The  promise  is  that  seed-time  and  harvest 
shall  not  cease. 

All  wait  upon  God.  Where  else  can  they 
go  ?  What  can  human  governments  and  asso- 
ciations do  for  us  here?  All  the  science  in 
the  world  cannot  make  a  single  blade  of  grass 
or  a  single  ear  of  corn.  We  look  up  to  God. 
He  can  supply  our  wants.  He  has  done  so 
fhrough  all  the  past.  We  can  trust  him  for  all 
the  future.    Let  us  bless  him  for  his  bounty 


290  THANKSGIVING   SEEMONS. 

as  we  see  it  in  "  our  creation,  preservation, 
and  all  the  blessings  of  this  life."  Let  ns  show 
our  thankfulness  "  not  only  with  our  lips,  but 
in  our  lives  " — by  active  and  loyal  service. 


THE  FEAST  OF  HARVEST. 

"  He  causeth  the  grass  to  grow  for  the  cattle,  and  herb  for 
the  service  of  man  :  that  he  may  bring  forth  food  out  of  the 
earth." — Ps.  civ.  14. 

Harvest  a  great  feast — as  Tabernacles  was 
with  the  Jews.  The  Feast  of  the  Ingathering 
was  the  most  joyful  time  of  the  year — and  for 
many  reasons. 

I.  The  need  and  the  blessing  of  the 
harvest. 

Our  life  is  depending  on  these  blades  of  grass 
and  ears  of  corn.  Without  our  food  and  our 
clothing  we  could  not  live  long.  They  are  far 
more  important  than  money.  Money  has  no 
value  in  itself;  its  value  is  only  because  we 
can  purchase  necessary  things  with  it.  Ship- 
wrecked sailors,  cast  upon  a  desolate  island, 
find  a  mountain  of  gold,  but  no  grass,  no  corn, 
no  life ;  what  would  the  gold  be  worth  I 

We  rejoice,  then,  when  the  harvest  comes 
round,  when  we  gather  the  corn  and  fruit  once 
more  into  the  garners,  because  the  supply  fdi* 
another  year  is  safely  stored,. 


THE   FEAST   OF   HAEVEST.  291 

rr.  We   come  to   church.     Why?    The 

Jew  went  up  to  the  temple  at  Jerusalem  to 
keep  the  Feast  of  Tabernacles.  Why  ?  Where 
does  the  harvest  come  from  ?  Nature  1  How 
can  nature  produce  by  itself!  Some  people 
seem  to  think  the  world  is  hke  a  clock,  which 
works  and  works  by  itself  when  it  is  wound 
up.  We  believe  that  Grod  created  the  worlds. 
(Gen.  i.  1.)  Grod  sets  these  natural  processes 
in  motion.     God  sustains  the  life  of  the  world. 

Jesus  multiplying  the  bread  and  feeding  the 
hungry  multitudes :  showing  us  by  the  miracle 
what  God  is  always  doing  for  us  by  the  slower 
annual  produce  of  the  earth.  So  every  harvest 
we  see  God's  gifts  renewed.  We  look  at  the 
yellow  fields  of  waving  corn,  and  the  fruit- 
trees,  their  boughs  bending  to  the  earth  with 
their  precious  produce,  and  we  sing  with  grate- 
ful hearts :  "  Thou  crownest  the  year  with  thy 
goodness."  We  see  God's  bounty  and  love 
giving  us  all  things  necessary  for  the  support 
and  comfort  of  life. 

We  make  the  harvest,  therefore,  not  merely 
a  feast,  but  a  religious  feast.  We  come  to 
church  because  we  want  to  publicly  thank  and 
praise  God. 

III.  The  harvest  a  picture  of  many  most 
important  truths : 

1.  As  God  gives  seed  to  sow  in  the  fields,  so 


292  THANKSGIVING  SEKMONS. 

he  gives  the  germs  of  heavenly  truth  and  spir- 
itual life  to  take  root  in  the  hearts  of  men. 
As  the  rain  and  snow  and  sunlight  are  all 
intended  to  produce  certain  definite  results 
upon  the  earth,  making  it  fruitful,  so  God's 
"Word  acts  upon  believing  souls  (Isa.  Iv.  10, 
11.) 

2.  "  Man  shall  not  live  by  bread  alone."  "  I 
have  meat  to  eat  that  ye  know  not  of." 

We  all  have  another  life  as  well  as  the  bodily 
one :  the  life  of  the  spirit.  This  needs  bread, 
"  the  bread  of  life,"  for  its  sustenance.  This 
needs  vesture,  even  truth  and  righteousness, 
for  its  covering.  WTiat  God  does  for  the  body 
in  the  abundant  supplies  of  the  harvest  is  a 
picture  of  what  he  also  does  for  the  soul,  send- 
ing us  his  quickening  eternal  truth;  sending 
Christ  and  the  Divine  Spirit  to  the  world. 

3.  Why,  then,  is  there  so  little  goodness  in 
the  world  1  Because,  while  the  earth  responds 
to  God's  influence,  and  is  obedient  to  the  laws 
by  which  it  is  governed,  man  too  often  is  self- 
willed  and  disobedient.  He  rejects  the  mercy 
and  help  which  are  offered  to  him.  Parable 
of  the  Sower.  Man's  heart  is  hard  like  the 
wayside,  or  shallow  like  the  stony  ground,  or 
preoccupied  with  worldly  things  like  the  soil 
filled  with  thorns.  Only  one  out  of  four  good 
ground. 


THANKSGIVING — ITS  DEFINITION.  293 

4.  We  are  sowers  too.  Every  action,  every 
word,  has  a  germ  of  life  in  it.  It  grows  np,  it 
meets  us  in  the  years  to  come.  (Gal.  vi.  7 ;  Ps. 
cxxvi.  5,  6.)  Will  a  man  sow  thistles  in  his 
field  ?  Will  he  sow  evil  in  his  life  1  Sow  faith, 
prayer,  self-denial,  goodness,  love.     For — 

5.  Harvest  comes.  The  angel  reapers  will 
come  and  separate  the  tares  from  the  wheat. 
What  is  growing  in  us  ?    Pray : 

"  Lord  of  harvest,  grant  that  we 
Wholesome  grain  and  pui'e  may  "be." 


THANKSGIVINa— ITS  DEFINITION. 

BY  ISAAC  BARROWS,  D.D. 

"  The  act  of  giving  thanks  or  expressing 
gratitude  for  favors  or  mercy  received  "  is  the 
cyclopedic  and  universal  definition  of  Thanks- 
giving. 

It  implies : 

1.  A  right  apprehension  of  tlie  benefits 
conferred. 

2.  A  faithful  retention  of  the  benefits 
in  tlie  memory,  and  frequent  reflections 
upon  tliem. 

3.  A  due  esteem  and  valuation  of  bene- 
fits. 


294:  THANKSGIVING  SERMONS. 

4.  A  reception  of  those  benefits  with  a 
willing  mind,  a  vehement  aiFection. 

5.  Due  acknowledgment  of  our  obliga- 
tions. 

6.  Endeavors  of  real  compensation,  or, 
as  it  respects  the  Divine  Being,  a  willing- 
ness to  serve  and  exalt  him. 

7.  Esteem,  veneration,  and  love  of  the 
benefactor. 


THANKSaiYINa  DAY. 

BY  E.  H.  S. 

It  is  for  us  to  accept  the  day  with  all  it  has 
for  us,  thankfully  to  unite  in  praise  to  Him 
who,  for  his  own,  doeth  all  things  well.  The 
coloring  of  each  life  is  laid  on  by  unerring  wis- 
dom, and  the  very  darkest  shades  will  prove  a 
fitting  background  for  the  completed  whole, 
when  we  view  in  the  glory  of  heaven  the  pic- 
ture of  the  years.  Then  let  us  be  truly  grate- 
ful for: 

1.  Treasures  in  heaven. 

2.  Hopes  that  fade  not  away. 

3.  Anticipations  to  be  realized. 

4.  Newness  of  life  in  Christ  Jesus. 

5.  Knowledge    of  the   blessed   Com- 

forter. 


HAKVEST   FESTIVAL.  295 

6.  Salvation. 

7.  Grod's  promises. 

8.  Innumerable  mercies. 

9.  Victory  over  sin. 

10.  IneflFable  glories  beyond. 

11.  Nourishment  of  soul  as  well  as  body. 

12.  Grace  suflftcient. 

13.  Discipline. 

14.  Ansvi^er  to  prayer. 

15.  Years  that  know  no  limit. 

"And  at  the  last, 
When  all  the  days  have  lost  the  wondrous  power 
Of  brightening  joy  with  sorrow  of  an  hour, 
When  time  is  past, 

"  When  all  is  rest, 
Life's  ripened  glory,  like  the  western  sky. 
And  morn  of  heaven,  and  love  of  Christ  is  nigh- 
Then  all  is  best." 


HAEYEST     FESTIVAL. 

BY  THE  EEV.  M.  F.  SADLEE. 
"Ye  are  God's  husbandry." — 1  Cor.  iii.  9. 

All  onr  salvation  is  of  God  througli  Christ, 
but  are  we  allowed  to  cooperate !  There  are 
some  who  teach,  or  seem  to  teach,  that  the 
work  of  salvation  is  so  entirely  God's  that  man 


296  THANKSGIVING  SEBMONS. 

has  to  do  nothing ;  he  has  simply  to  lie  still 
and  allow  himself  to  be  acted  upon  by  God. 
But  the  teaching  of  all  Scripture  is  against 
this.  Especially  are  those  very  numerous  pas- 
sages in  Scripture  against  it  which  illustrate 
the  work  of  salvation  by  the  work  of  husban- 
dry.    Such  is  our  text. 

Let  us  look  first  at  God's  operation. 

God  prepares  the  seed :  he  causes  that 
every  seed  we  sow  should  have  a  germ  of  life 
in  it.  God  prepares  the  ground  so  that  it 
should  be,  as  it  were,  a  fruitful  womb  for  the 
seed.  Then  he  sends  his  rain,  without  which 
the  young  plant  would  get  no  nourishment 
from  the  dry  soil.  Then  he  sends  the  sunshine, 
without  which  the  seed  would  not  germinate 
and  shoot  forth  above  ground.  These  are 
some  of  the  things  which  God  does.  Then, 
what  has  man  to  do  ?  He  has  to  plow  the  land 
which  God  has  prepared;  he  has  to  sow  the 
seed  into  which  God  has  put  a  living  principle ; 
he  has  to  cleanse  the  ground  from  weeds  which 
would  choke  the  seed  if  permitted  to  grow ;  and 
when  the  grain  is  ripe  he  has,  in  due  time,  to 
reap  the  harvest  and  to  gather  it  safe  into  his 
barn.  Now  in  all  this  he  has  to  work  with 
God. 

And  so  in  the  spiritual  harvest.  He 
has  to  prepare  his  soul — he  has  to  break 


THE   HAEVEST.  297 

tip  his  fallow  ground  with  the  plowshare  of 
repentance;  he  has  to  sow  his  soul  with  the 
good  seed  of  God's  Word  in  order  that  it  may 
bring  forth  the  fruit  of  good  works ;  he  has 
to  weed  his  soul,  for  there  is  one  always  at 
hand  sowing  noxious  weeds.  But  has  he  to 
reap?  Yes,  because  the  Spirit  of  God  has 
said,  "  Let  us  not  be  weary  in  well-doing :  for 
in  due  season  we  shall  reap,  if  we  faint  not ;  " 
and  yet  he  has  to  wait  and  prepare  for  the  an- 
gelic reaping,  when  the  Lord  will  say,  "  Gather 
ye  together  first  the  tares,  and  bind  them  in 
bundles  to  burn  them :  but  gather  the  wheat 
into  my  barn." 


THE  HAEVEST. 


"  He  reserveth  unto  us  the  appointed  weeks  of  the  harvest." 
— Jer.  V.  24. 

Theke  are  two  especial  teachings  respecting 
God  to  be  learned  from  the  harvest — his  power 
and  his  faithfulness. 

His  power.  The  united  skill  and  power  of 
the  world  could  not  make  one  seed,  much  less 
implant  in  it  a  principle  of  life ;  and  yet  God 
causes  seeds  which  man  has  sown  to  spring  up 
every  year  in  every  part  of  the  world,  enough 


298  THANKSGIVING   SERMONS. 

to  feed  the  whole  human  family.  Men  try  to 
elude  the  force  of  this,  as  setting  forth  the 
power  and  the  will  of  God,  by  saying  that 
seeds  grow  and  produce  food  by  a  law  of  na- 
ture :  but  a  law  of  itself  can  do  nothing.  A 
law  is  imposed  by  a  reasoning  lawgiver,  who 
must  not  only  enact  the  law,  but  see  that  it  is 
carried  into  effect.  This  must  be  the  case  with 
unconscious,  unreasoning  matter  such  as  seeds 
are  made  of.  God  must  be  in  every  field,  and 
in  every  inch  of  that  field,  or  the  seed  sown 
would  not  vegetate.  When  a  sovereign  makes 
a  law  it  by  no  means  follows  that  that  law  is 
observed.  There  must  be  forces  stationed  in 
every  part  of  the  kingdom  to  make  the  law 
observed  universally.  There  must  be  a  power- 
ful will  everywhere  to  overawe  the  wills  of  the 
disobedient,  and  much  more  must  this  be  the 
case  with  dead,  unthinking  matter.  God  must 
be  at  work  in  every  field  you  sow,  to  make 
the  seed  sown  not  only  spring  up,  but  spring 
up  in  the  particular  form  of  the  plant  you  de- 
sire. 

Then,  in  the  next  place,  the  regular  re- 
currence of  the  time  of  harvest  is  a  proof 
of  the  faithfulness  of  God.  "While  the 
earth  remaineth,  seed-time  and  harvest,  .  .  . 
day  and  night,  shall  not  cease."  (Gen.  viii.  22.) 
Again,  "He  reserveth  unto  us  the  appointed 


FOR  WHAT   TO   GIVE   THANKS.  299 

weeks  of  the  harvest."  ( Jer.  v.  24.)  Now  con- 
sider under  what  provocation  God  has  thus 
held  to  his  promise.  The  race  of  men,  as  a  race, 
cannot  be  said  to  acknowledge  him.  Scarcely 
a  quarter  of  the  world  worships,  even  out- 
wardly, the  ever-blessed  Trinity ;  and  see  how 
they  go  counter  to  him — even  those  who  are 
nominal  Christians — to  the  law  of  right  which 
he  has  written  in  their  hearts.  And  yet, 
though  they  do  not  acknowledge  him,  he  gives 
them  "  rain  from  heaven,  and  fruitful  seasons, 
filling  their  hearts  with  food  and  gladness." 
Lord,  make  us  ever  mindful  of  all  thy  mercies ! 
In  everything  may  we  give  thanks  for  this  thy 
will  in  thy  Son  concerning  us ! 


FOR  WHAT  TO  GIVE  THANKS. 

BY  REV.  J.  H.  BROOKES. 

1.  For  God's  goodness.  O  give  thanks 
unto  the  Lord ;  for  he  is  good ;  for  his  mercy 
endureth  forever."  (1  Chron.  xvi.  34 ;  Ps.  cvii. 
1,  cxviii.  1.) 

2.  For  his  holiness.  "  Sing  unto  the  Lord, 
O  ye  saints  of  his,  and  give  thanks  at  the  re- 
membrance of  his  holiness."  (Ps.  xxx.  4,  xcvii. 
12,  cxl.  13.) 


300  THANKSGIVING  SEEMONS. 

3.  For  revealing  himself.  ^'Unto  thee, 
O  God,  do  we  give  thanks,  unto  thee  do  we 
give  thanks :  for  that  thy  name  is  near  thy  won- 
drous works  declare."  (Ps.  Ixxv.  1,  cxxxviii. 
2 ;  1  Thess.  ii.  13.) 

4.  For  the  gift  of  his  Son.  "  Thanks  be 
unto  God  for  his  unspeakable  gift."  (2  Cor. 
ix.  15.)  '^  For  God  so  loved  the  world,  that  he 
gave  his  only  begotten  Son,  that  whosoever 
believeth  in  him  should  not  perish,  but  have 
everlasting  life."     (John  iii.  16 ;  Rom.  vi.  23.) 

5.  For  a  present  salvation.  "Giving 
thanks  unto  the  Father,  which  hath  made  us 
meet  to  be  partakers  of  the  inheritance  of  the 
saints  in  light :  who  hath  delivered  us  from  the 
power  of  darkness,  and  hath  translated  us  into 
the  kingdom  of  his  dear  Son."  (Col.  i.  12, 13 ; 
John  vi.  47.) 

6.  For  victory.  "  The  sting  of  death  is  sin ; 
and  the  strength  of  sin  is  the  law.  But  thanks 
be  to  God,  which  giveth  us  the  victory  through 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  (1  Cor.  xv.  56,  57 ; 
Rom.  vii.  25.) 

7.  For  everything.  "In  everything  give 
thanks :  for  this  is  the  will  of  God  in  Christ 
Jesus  concerning  you."  (1  Thess.  v.  18.)  "  Be 
careful  for  nothing;  but  in  everything  by 
prayer  and  supplication  with  thanksgiving 
let  your  requests  be  made  known  unto  God." 
(Phil.  iv.  6 ;  Eph.  v.  20.) 


CALL  TO   GBATITUDE.  301 

CALL    TO    GRATITUDE. 

BY  THE  REV.  JOHN  STEVENSON. 
"Bless  the  Lord,  O  my  soul." — Ps.  ciii.  22. 

We  should  often  hold  our  "  Jubilee  "  of  en- 
tire gladness,  recapitulating  the  gracious  acts 
of  the  Lord  with  glowing  gratitude.  We 
should  enumerate  the  averting  of  evils  that 
we  feared,  the  unexpected  turnings  of  affairs 
that  revived  our  hopes,  the  hairbreadth  es- 
capes that  surprised  and  gladdened  us,  and 
the  answers  to  prayer  that  put  our  unbelief 
to  shame. 

1.  The  various  circumstances  by  which 
mercies  have  been  distinguished  and  accom- 
panied should  be  carefully  remembered ; 

2.  The  seasoiiableness  of  their  supply ; 

3.  The  tenderness  of  love  and  the  wisdom 
of  adaptation  with  which  they  were  brought 
to  our  need  and  suited  to  our  case ; 

4.  The  greatness  of  the  evils  prevented 
and  of  the  blessings  bestowed  ; 

5.  The  health  and  food  and  raiment  with 
which  God  has  provided  us ; 

6.  The  friends  raised  up  to  us  in  the  hour 
of  difficulty ; 

7.  The  light  which  has  arisen  upon  us  in 
seasons  of  darkness  and  perplexity ;  and, 


302  THANKSGIVING   SERMONS. 

8.  The  peace  which  has  sustained  our  souls 
under  bereavement,  should  all  be  specially  and 
thankfully  acknowledged. 


THE  DUTY  OF  THANKSaiVINa. 

BY  ISAAC  BARROWS,  D.D. 

The  obligation  to  this  duty  arises : 

1.  From  the  relation  in  whicli  we  stand 
to  God ; 

2.  Tlie  divine  command ; 

3.  Tlie  promises  God  lias  made ; 

4.  The  example  of  all  good  men  ; 

5.  Our  unworthiness  of  the  blessings 
we  receive ; 

6.  The  prospect  of  eternal  glory. 
Whoever  possesses  any  good  without  giving 

thanks  for  it  deprives  Him  who  bestows  that 
good  of  his  glory,  sets  a  bad  example  before 
others,  and  prepares  a  recollection  severely 
painful  for  himself  when  he  comes  in  his  turn 
to  experience  ingratitude. 


THE  BLESSINGS  FOR  WHICH  WE 
SHOULD   BE   THANKFUL. 

1.  Temporal,  such  as  health,  food,  rai- 
ment, rest,  etc. 


PEAYER   AND   PRAISE.  303 

2.  Spiritual,  such  as  the  Bible,  ordi- 
nances, the  gospel  and  its  blessing^s,  as 
free  grace,  adoption,  pardon,  justifica- 
tion, calling,  etc. 

3.  Eternal,  or  the  enjoyment  of  God  in 
a  future  state. 

4.  Also  for  all  that  is  past,  what  we 
now  enjoy,  and  what  is  promised ;  for  pri- 
vate and  public,  for  ordinary  and  ex- 
traordinary blessings,  for  j)rosperity,  and 
even  for  adversity  so  far  as  rendered 
subservient  to  our  good. 


PRAYEE    AND    PRAISE. 

BY  THE  REV.  JOHN  STEVENSON. 

"  In  everything  give  thanks." — 1  Thess.  v.  17. 

"  Pray  without  ceasing,"  says  the  Apostle, 
and  immediately  adds,  "In  everything  give 
thanks :  for  this  is  the  will  of  God  in  Christ 
Jesus  concerning  you.''  Obey  this  command, 
O  believer !  Look  around  you  for  causes  for 
thankfulness.  Be  eagle-eyed  to  discern  your 
mercies,  rather  than  your  miseries.  See  how 
many  they  are :  in  the  house  and  in  the  street ; 
in  the  country  and  in  the  city;  in  your  own 
person  and  in  your  family ;  among  your  rela- 
tives and  throughout  your  friends;  in  your 


304  THANKSGIVING   SEKMONS. 

native  country  and  in  the  world  at  large. 
Look  not  always  at  the  dark  spots  in  every 
picture,  lest  your  mind  be  darkened  like  them. 
Fix  your  eyes  also  on  the  bright  and  beauti- 
ful, that  your  mind  may  reflect  your  image. 
Let  the  one  teach  you  to  pray.  Let  the  other 
teach  you  to  praise. 


THANKSaiVINO  IS  A  NECESSITY. 

BY  THE  EEV.  S.  BAEING-GOULD,  M.A. 

"  Hezekiah  rendered  not  again  according  to  the  benefit  done 
unto  him ;  for  his  heart  was  lifted  up :  therefore  there  was 
wrath  upon  him." — 2  Chron.  xxxii.  25. 

Introduction.  What  was  it  that  had  lifted 
up  the  heart  of  Hezekiah?  We  read  (verses 
27-30<) :  "He  prospered  in  all  his  works." 
Why  1    "  God  gave  him  substance  very  much." 

Thanksgiving  is  a  necessity,  to  keep  alive 
our  consciousness  of  dependence  upon  God. 

1.  Grocl  visits  in  mercy.  People  forget 
this.  When  a  man  falls  dead,  when  a  rich 
man  is  ruined,  when  a  nation  is  humbled,  peo- 
ple talk  of  it  as  God's  visitation. 

If  corn-crops  go  on  right,  if  trade  prospers, 
we  attribute  it  to  the  soil  and  weather,  or  to 
our  skiKul  speculation.    But  if  there  comes  a 


THANKSGIVING  IS  A  NECESSITY.  305 

hail-storm,  or  a  fire  consuming  our  stock,  at 
once — it  is  Grod's  visitation. 

Do  you  think  God  only  visits  the  earth  to 
curse  it !  David  thought  differently :  "  Thou 
visitest  the  earth,  and  blessest  it ;  thou  makest 
it  very  plenteous."  Every  blade  of  corn  grows 
by  the  visitation  of  God.  People  talk  of  God 
as  if  they  saw  only  his  majesty  as  a  retribu- 
tive justice;  but  he  waters  the  hills  from 
above.     (Read  Ps.  civ.) 

2.  Gratitude,  therefore,  is  due  to  him 
for  all  his  mercy  that  he  exerts  day  by  day. 
Hezekiah  had  received ;  he  rendered  not  in  re- 
turn the  thanks  that  were  due  to  God.  The 
Jews  received  abundant  blessings;  they  ren- 
dered not  a  return,  and  were  cast  off. 

Indeed  it  is  a  law  of  nature  that  return  must 
be  made. 

The  seas  receive  the  rivers  and  return  the 
clouds ;  the  earth  receives  the  grain  and  dress- 
ing, and  returns  the  harvest;  the  flower  is 
given  water,  and  it  returns  its  fragrant  scent. 

It  is  true  that  we  can,  of  ourselves,  make 
no  adequate  return,  but  a  means  has  been  pro- 
vided us  for  making  one,  which  is  an  equiva- 
lent to  all  blessings  accorded  us.  This  means 
is  in  the  Eucharist. 


306  THANKSGIVING  SEKMONS. 

ABSTRACT  FEOM  THANKSGIVING 
ADDRESS. 

BY  THE  HON.  JOHN  W.  RAMSEY. 

The  year  passing  away  has  been  to  us 
crowded  with  blessings;  health,  peace,  and 
plenty  abound.  What  a  happy  country  is 
ours,  situated  between  the  extremes  of  heat 
and  cold!  A  land  diversified  by  mountains 
and  plains,  ridges  and  valleys ;  abounding  in 
springs,  rivulets,  brooks,  and  rivers.  Our  for- 
ests still  furnish  all  the  timber  necessary  for 
building  or  furniture;  mountains  and  hills 
veined  with  coal  and  precious  metals ;  plains 
and  valleys  yielding  richly  in  grains  and 
grapes.  "We  were  born  in  or  have  adopted  a 
blessed  country.  The  lines  have  fallen  to  us 
in  pleasant  places.  Our  opportunities  and 
advantages  are  wonderful,  as  compared  with 
those  of  our  fathers.  At  the  peril  of  their 
lives  they  possessed  this  land.  They  felled  the 
forests,  fenced  the  farms,  built  the  log  cabins 
and  other  houses  as  they  could,  with  poor  and 
limited  means ;  made  the  roads  and  finally  the 
railroads;  built  the  school-houses,  churches, 
and  mills  in  every  valley,  and  prepared  the 
way  and  the  country  for  their  children.  They 
had  but  few  books,  their  education  was  mainly 


ABSTRACT  FEOM  THANKSGIVING  ADDEESS   307 

practical,  but  they  appreciated  the  worth  of  a 
good  education.  As  for  newspapers  and  mag- 
azines, they  knew  but  little  about  them.  But 
if  they  could  not  write  their  names  they  left 
their  marks  deep  and  lasting  behind  them. 
We  thank  Grod  for  such  fathers  and  mothers, 
and  what  they  did  for  us,  and  take  courage 
for  the  future.  When  we  look  around  we  are 
grateful  that  God  has  enabled  us  to  do  some- 
thing to  elevate  humanity  in  our  country.  The 
old  style  of  farming  and  domestic  work  is  be- 
ing replaced  by  superior  implements  and  work. 
The  log  cabins  and  log  stables  are  passing 
away,  and  elegant  mansions  and  convenient 
barns  are  taking  their  places.  Fine  flouring 
and  merchant  mills  have  sprung  up  along  the 
streams  where  the  tub  corn-cracker  rubbed  out 
its  few  bushels  of  meal  a  day.  Villages  and 
cities  are  rising  all  over  the  land,  with  all  their 
conveniences  and  civilizing  and  humanizing 
appliances.  The  family  of  the  poor  is  no 
longer  limited  to  the  spelling-book,  reader, 
Bible,  and  almanac;  but  almost  for  the  ask- 
ing can  it  enjoy  a  good  library  of  valuable 
books,  magazines,  and  newspapers.  If  we  do 
not  advance  it  is  our  own  fault.  Our  system 
of  government  is  the  best  ever  yet  devised  by 
man:  a  national  government  for  national 
matters,  with  its  law-making,  law-expounding, 


308  THANKSGIVING   SEKMONS. 

and  law-executing  departments ;  State  govern- 
ments for  local  and  domestic  affairs,  with  their 
legislative,  judicial,  and  executive  depart- 
ments ;  then  our  county  and  corporation  de- 
partments, for  our  cities  and  neighborhoods, 
bringing  the  streams  of  legislation  and  justice 
to  our  doors — all  done  by  our  consent  and 
free  will.  Such  are  but  a  few  of  the  blessings 
for  which  we  join  in  thanksgiving  on  this 
bright  day. 


GRATITUDE    EXPEESSED. 

BY  THE  REV.  R.  ANDREW  GRIFFIN. 

'^  I  love  the  Lord,  because  he  hath  heard  my  voice  and  my 
supplications." — Ps.  cxvi.  1. 

First  of  all,  we  are  constrained  to  love  God 
for  the  benefits  he  has  conferred,  and  tlien 
more  intensely  for  the  disposition  which  be- 
stowed these  benefits. 

1.  The  psalmist's  heart  was  filled  with 
gratitude.  The  affections  of  the  heart  are 
won  by  God's  gentleness  and  condescension. 

2.  His  heart  was  filled  with  hope.  "  I 
will  call  upon  him."  He  felt  that  in  the  future 
God  would  be  as  kind  as  in  the  past. 

3.  His    heart   was    made    strong  —  so 


OUR  THANKSGIVING.  309 

strong   that   he   resolutely  declares   he   will 
never  cease  pleading  and  singing  before  God. 
In  conclusion : 

1.  Use  past  mercies  as  encouragements 
for  future  approaches.  Beggars  grow  bold  as 
their  requests  are  granted.  Sinners  drew  near 
to  Jesus  in  crowds  when  it  was  known  that  he 
"  received  sinners." 

2.  Examine  yourselves,  seeing  that  past 
mercies  produce  this  holy  confidence. 

3.  Be  not  afraid  to  place  confidence  in  a 
prayer-hearing  God. 

(1)  Trust  him  when  you  are  in  personal 
trouble. 

(2)  Trust  him  when  Jerusalem  is  in  peril. 
The  past  should  generate  present  confidence. 

4.  Pray  always — in  public  or  private,  "  be- 
cause he  hath  heard"  prayers  offered  in  the 
general  assembly  and  in  the  secret  closet. 

5.  Forget  not  your  vows :  "  I  will  love," 
etc. ;  "  I  will  call,"  etc. 


OUR  THANKSGIVING. 

Our  day  of  national  Thanksgiving  is  in  itself 
a  benefaction.  It  calls  upon  men  once  a  year 
at  least  to  thoughtfully  consider  the  mercies 
of  the  Lord.     Since  the  degree  of  our  apprecia- 


310  THANKSGIVING   SERMONS. 

tion  of  what  God  has  done  for  us  will  deter- 
mine unmistakably  the  measure  and  spirit  of 
our  thanksgiving,  we  cannot  do  better  than  to 
stop  and  recount  and  seek  to  estimate  the  bene- 
fits which  a  smiling  Providence  has  bestowed 
upon  us ;  for  no  one  will  be  thankful  for  more 
than  he  appreciates,  and  no  one  will  appreci- 
ate blessings  of  which  he  has  no  realization ; 
so  that  not  only  mercies,  nor  even  a  knowledge 
of  mercies,  but  a  sincere  and  trustful  apprecia- 
tion of  mercies,  is  essential  to  real  gratitude. 
In  making  an  inventory  of  the  manifold  good- 
ness of  God  we  will  consider : 

1.  Our  country.  This  is  a  goodly  land. 
We  have  a  marvelous  history  of  prosperity 
and  growth.  To-day  no  nation  under  the  sun 
is  more  highly  favored  in  all  that  goes  to  make 
up  good  government  and  a  happy  and  thrifty 
people  than  our  own. 

During  the  past  twelvemonth  no  blighting, 
desolating  epidemic  has  visited  our  shores. 
The  rose  of  health  has  been  on  the  cheek  of 
our  people. 

Men  of  all  classes  and  ranks  everywhere  have 
abundant  occasion  to  join  hands  with  the  tiller 
of  the  soil  and  shout  the  harvest-home  and  re- 
turn thanks  to  God. 

But  above  the  material  blessings  which  fill 
our  storehouses  and  increase  our  wealth  are 


OUR  THANKSGIVING.  311 

those  of  a  moral  and  intellectual  nature.  This 
is  a  Christian  nation.  We  have  in  the  United 
States,  of  Protestants  alone  : 

Ministers,  101,796 ; 

Church  organizations,  154,901 ; 

Communicants,  13,354,935 ; 

Church  edifices,  133,705 ; 

Sittings,  40,189,953; 

Church  valuation,  $560,258,773. 

Add  to  this  the  amount  of  millions  annually 
paid  to  support  the  same,  and  the  whole  is 
overwhelming.  How  great  and  precious  are 
the  blessings  which  come  to  us  through  the 
church  of  Jesus  Christ ! 

We  cannot  speak  here  of  our  public  schools, 
colleges,  and  other  institutions  which  have  for 
their  object  the  amelioration  of  the  condition 
of  our  race,  old  and  young,  in  an  intellectual 
way ;  of  the  newspapers  and  books,  largely  re- 
ligious and  beneficent  in  their  influence  on  in- 
dividuals and  homes.  Only  this :  for  all  these 
uplifting,  refining,  and  ennobling  influences 
our  thanksgiving  should  be  hearty  and  devout. 

2.  The  prosperity  of  God's  cause  in  the 
world.  The  past  year  has  been  one  of  great 
reUgious  awakening  and  progress  throughout 
the  world.  In  Christian  and  heathen  lands 
the  victories  of  the  cross  have  been  heralded 
abroad.    MultipUed  thousands  have  been  res- 


312  THANKSGIVING   SEEMONS. 

cued  from  the  ways  of  sin  and  gathered  within 
the  fgld  of  Christ.  We  have  abundant  reason 
to  join  in  the  song  of  David :  "  Now,  therefore, 
our  God,  we  thank  thee,  and  praise  thy  glori- 
ous name." 

3.  Personal  blessings.  Who  has  been 
without  personal  blessings!  Who  has  not 
shared  the  mercies  of  a  gracious  Father,  even 
though  unmindful  of  his  faithfulness  ?  Aye,  in 
a  thousand  ways,  from  day  to  day,  throughout 
the  year,  have  the  tender  love  and  care  of  the 
Lord  been  manifest  to  all.  But  some  who 
have  had  trouble,  financial  losses,  great  trials, 
or  from  whom  loved  ones  of  the  family  circle 
have  been  called,  will  ask,  ^'  How  can  you  say 
that  God  has  been  near  to  and  blessed  ah?" 
Truly,  the  home  may  be  empty  and  the  grave- 
yard fuller,  but  remember  the  faithfulness  of 
God.  A  father  once  sat  by  the  fireside  under 
the  shadow  of  grief.  He  held  his  little  child 
on  his  knee,  who  asked  the  meaning  of  the 
verse  that  hung  framed  over  the  mantel — 
"The  law  of  the  Lord  is  perfect,  converting 
the  soul."  No  answer  was  given.  Then  the 
infant  questioner  said,  "  Papa,  doesn't  it  mean 
God  makes  no  mistakes  ? " 

Though  the  outer  sunshine  may  have  faded 
from  our  pathway,  still  there  is  an  inner  sun- 
shine which  should  cheer  every  heart — "  God 


HE  HATH  DONE  GREAT  THINGS.     313 

makes  no  mistakes."  Then  who  cannot  sing 
praises  to  God!  To  him,  the  Giver  of  all 
good,  let  us  render  with  pure  and  glad  hearts, 
and  with  renewed  consecration  for  the  years 
to  come,  our  thanksgiving. — Selected, 


HE  HATH  DONE  GREAT  THINGS. 

BY  THE  REV.  W.  H.  STRICKLAND. 

"  The  Lord  hath  done  great  things  for  us ;  whereof  we  are 
glad." — Ps.  cxxvi.  3. 

These  words  voice  a  national  thanksgiving. 
They  are  the  grateful  song  of  liberated  Hebrew 
captives.  With  a  genuine  heartiness  it  wells 
up  from  the  very  depths  of  their  being.  For 
many  years  they  had  worn  the  yoke  of  bond- 
age ;  had  dwelt  in  a  strange  land.  Their  cap- 
tivity in  Babylon  was  a  punishment  for  their 
idolatry ;  but  its  long  term  expires,  and  their 
state  is  so  gleeful  that  all  their  neighbors  no- 
tice it.  Observe  the  opening  of  the  psalm: 
"When  the  Lord  turned  again  the  captivity 
of  Zion,  we  were  like  them  that  dream.  Then 
was  our  mouth  filled  with  laughter,  and  our 
tongue  with  singing:  then  said  they  among 
the  heathen,  The  Lord  hath  done  great  things 
for  them ;  "  and  the  liberated  sons  of  Judah  re- 


314  THANKSGIVING  SEBMONS. 

ply,  "  The  Lord  hath  done  great  things  for  us ; 
whereof  we  are  glad." 

The  atheist  says,  "No  God" — no  all- wise, 
almighty,  superintending  Being.  Who  made 
this  universe  and  regulates,  repairs,  and  sus- 
tains its  vast,  intricate  machinery?  In  love 
with  "the  gospel  of  dirt,"  he  sees  a  "power 
and  potency  in  nature  "  capable  of  producing 
and  sustaining  all  about  us,  above  us,  within 
us. 

He  tells  us  that  all  our  poetry,  our  eloquence, 
our  science,  our  art,  our  emotion,  our  senti- 
ment, our  patriotism,  our  reasoning,  once 
burned  fiercely  in  the  fires  of  the  sun.  He 
declares  that  theology  is  exploded,  and  corre- 
lation of  force  and  conservation  of  force  take 
the  place  with  him  of  Grod  and  revelation. 

He  taunts  the  Christian  with  his  fetish.  De- 
ceiving himself,  he  exalts  matter  and  bows  be- 
fore it  as  his  fetish.  Until  he  can  practise  icon- 
oclasm  for  himself,  let  him  cease  to  rail  at  the 
Christian.  Away  with  such  doctrine.  It  is  as 
heartless,  as  feelingless,  as  lifeless  as  the  strata 
of  the  granite  hills.  It  has  no  eye  to  pity ;  it 
stretches  forth  no  hand  to  save;  it  has  no 
gratitude  for  favors  received;  its  ear  is  dead 
to  the  wail  of  the  helpless  and  the  guilty ;  its 
eternal  silence  is  the  crudest  mockery  in  the 
ear  of  want  and  woe. 


HE  HATH  DONE  GREAT  THINGS.     315 

The  deist  acknowledges  a  personal  God,  but 
wraps  him  in  garments  of  indifference  and  in- 
sensibility to  the  wants  of  his  own  children. 

More  careless  than  the  ostrich  of  the  desert, 
he  stoops  not  to  pity  or  relieve  the  workman- 
ship of  his  own  hands. 

Deism  makes  the  Eternal  a  sort  of  ship- 
builder, who,  having  fashioned  his  craft,  sup- 
plied its  wants,  and  adjusted  it  to  its  element, 
launched  it,  and  straightway  relinquished  all 
interest  in  ship,  crew,  cargo,  leaving  them  to 
the  vicissitudes  of  storm  and  calm,  rock  and 
beach. 

So  deism  tells  us,  God,  having  made  the 
worlds,  and  peopled  them  and  adjusted  them 
to  their  environments,  retires  from  the  scene 
and  concerns  himself  no  further  for  their  suc- 
cess or  failure.  Practically  deism  is  no  better 
than  atheism :  such  a  God  is  worth  no  more 
to  man  than  no  God. 

The  Bible  reveals  to  us  a  Being  who  repre- 
sents himself  as  a  wise,  loving,  beneficent 
Father,  as  a  supervising  and  superintending 
Providence,  whose  heart  is  interested  in  every 
object  of  his  handiwork ;  whose  ears  are  ever 
open  to  the  cries  of  his  children ;  who  notes 
the  falling  of  a  sparrow  and  corrects  the  quo- 
tations in  the  daily  price-current  of  little  birds ; 
who  causeth  the  grass  to  grow  for  the  cattle ; 


316  THANKSGIVING   SEKMONS. 

who  heareth  the  young  ravens  when  they  cry ; 
whose  arm  of  might  and  whose  word  of  com- 
fort are  alike  extended  to  all  the  sons  of  a 
ruined  race ;  whose  soul,  tilled  with  sorrow, 
weeps  tears  of  compassion  for  his  erring,  un- 
grateful offspring. 

Such  was  the  Hebrew  God.  "The  Lord 
hath  done  great  things  for  us." 

The  theology  of  the  patriarchs  and  the 
prophets  makes  no  account  of  second  causes — 
all  is  traced  directly  back  to  Jehovah. 

Said  Job,  suffering  under  the  afflictive  dis- 
pensations, "The  Lord  gave,  and  the  Lord 
hath  taken  away." 

Said  Joseph  to  his  confused,  convicted,  com- 
fortless brethren,  "  Grod  did  send  me  before 
you  to  preserve  life." 

"  The  Lord  hath  done  great  things  for  us." 

The  God  of  grace  and  providence  is  the 
Christian's  God. 

The  child  of  faith  hears  a  Father's  tones  and 
sees  a  Father's  hand  in  everything.  That  man 
is  miserable  who  sees  the  cyclone  level  his  es- 
tates and  devastate  his  property  and  yet  sets 
it  down  to  the  hand  of  fate  or  chance ;  he  frets 
and  murmurs.  But  he  is  calm,  restful,  trust- 
ful, who  sees  God's  hand  in  the  floods  and 
di'ought.  He  can  say,  "  It  is  the  Lord :  let  him 
do  what  seemeth  to  him  good." 


HE  HATH  DONE  GEEAT  THINGS.     317 

Brethren,  we  magnify  second  causes  and 
minimize  the  supernatural.  Let  us  study  the 
natural,  but  let  us  not  forget  to  magnify  Grod. 
Losing  sight  of  God  tends  to  unhappiness. 

To-day  we  are  met,  in  response  to  the  chief 
magistrate  of  the  republic  and  the  governor  of 
our  State,  to  engage  in  national  thanksgiving 
and  praise.  It  is  befitting  so  to  meet.  Al- 
mighty God  gave  to  our  fathers  this  broad 
land  in  which  we  live,  and  he  has  fashioned 
us  what  we  are  to-day. 

'Tis  meet  that  we  thank  him  for  civil  liberty 
and  religious  freedom.  He  has  led  us  by  the 
hand  and  exalted  us  far  above  our  fellows  of 
other  ages  and  climes. 

He  smote  one  rock  for  the  children  of  Israel : 
the  waters  gushed  forth.  He  has  smitten  a 
thousand  rocks  for  us,  and  our  thirst  is  ever 
satisfied.  The  Jews  were  God's  ancient  peo- 
ple ;  we  are  God's  modern  people.  They  wan- 
dered in  a  desert  forty  years;  we  have  dwelt 
in  a  garden  a  hundred  years.  With  greater 
propriety  than  those  liberated  captives  can  we 
say,  "  The  Lord  hath  done  great  things  for 
us ;  whereof  we  are  glad."  I  speak  not  in  hy- 
perbole when  I  say  the  people  of  the  United 
States  are  the  most  highly  favored  people 
under  the  sun. 

"  Great  things,"  says  the  text ;  religious  lib- 


318  THANKSGIVING   SERMONS. 

erty,  the  boon  of  the  sonl,  first  budded  and 
bloomed  and  fruited  on  these  Western  shores. 
Nowhere  else  under  heaven's  cope  is  it  en- 
joyed in  its  fullness  to-day.  There  is  a  vast 
difference  between  religious  liberty  and  tolera- 
tion. In  other  lands  'tis  true  that  each  one 
may  worship  God  under  his  own  vine  and  fig- 
tree,  but  provided  always  that  he  pays  his 
church-rate  for  its  support. 

Here  we  enjoy  voluntaryism  to  the  full — 
here  religious  opinion  and  practice  are  uncir- 
cumscribed. 

We  thank  God  for  this  union  thanksgiving 
service  to-day,  in  which  Christian  denomina- 
tions, differing  widely  in  many  things,  can 
come  together  in  Christian  fellowship  and  find 
a  platform  broad  enough  upon  which  all  can 
stand.  Here,  joining  hands  and  voices,  we 
can  sing : 

"  Blest  be  the  tie  that  binds 
Our  hearts  in  Christian  love," 

without  scratching  one  iota  of  independency 
of  thought  or  distinctiveness  of  practice.  We 
be  Methodists,  Christians,  Presbyterians,  Bap- 
tists, but  we  be  brethren — brethren  of  one  com- 
mon Lord,  children  of  one  common  Heavenly 
Father.     Thank  God  for  that ! 

1.  We  make  mention  of  God's  g^oodness 
in  giving  abundant  harvests. 


HE  HATH  DONE  GREAT  THINGS.     319 

Since  the  days  of  Joseph,  the  iron  duke  of 
Egypt,  when  "the  earth  brought  forth  by 
handfuls,"  we  have  not  heard  of  such  an 
abundance  of  the  cereals  as  we  have  now. 
For  every  man,  woman,  and  child  in  these 
United  States  and  Territories  there  are  stored 
away  in  gi^anaries  or  banked  up  in  well-hooped 
barrels  ten  bushels  of  wheat,  to  say  nothing  of 
corn,  oats,  rye,  rice,  and  other  kinds  of  grain. 
Gaunt  Famine,  we  defy  thee  to  try  to  stalk 
abroad  in  our  land !  Whatever  else  may  come, 
of  stringency  of  money,  of  cold,  chill,  disease, 
yet  our  Heavenly  Father  has  assured  us  of 
"  our  daily  bread  "  for  a  twelvemonth  to  come. 
With  the  poet  we  can  sing : 

"  For  me  the  mine  a  thousand  treasures  brings, 
For  me  health  gushes  from  a  thousand  springs ; 
Seas  roll  to  waft  me,  suns  to  light  me  rise ; 
My  footstool,  earth,  my  canopy,  the  skies." 

2.  We  praise  God  that  our  people  have 
been  spared  the  visitation  of  "  tlie  pesti- 
lence that  walketh  in  darkness,  and  the 
destruction  that  vi^asteth  at  noonday." 

3.  Let  us  rejoice,  too,  that  we  have  seen 
the  nation  pass  through  political  conflicts 
so  safe  and  so  peacefully.  Our  political 
Aceldamas  have  been  mostly  on  paper,  having 
sprung  from  the  inflamed  brain  of  newspaper 


320  THANKSGIVING   SERMONS. 

reporters  and  the  fervid  imagination  of  stnmp 
orators,  having  literally  an  ephemeral  exis- 
tence.   They  are  gone — really  they  never  came. 

4.  Tvirning*  our  thoughts  for  a  moment 
from  the  political  to  the  theological 
realm,  let  us  he  thankful  that  we  find  so 
much  soundness  here. 

There  is  an  increasing  demand  for  the  "  old 
paths,"  and  a  welcome  to  him  who  relates  the 
"old  truths."  The  overwhelming  verdict  of 
the  denominations  is  this :  "  Having  drunk  the 
old  wine  upon  which  our  fathers  fed  and  were 
nourished,  strengthened,  sustained,  they  do  not 
desire  the  new  vintage,  saying,  ^  The  old  is 
better.'" 

True  enough,  stars  are  now  and  then  break- 
ing away  from  their  orbits  and  wandering  in 
theological  space,  but  how  quickly  they  are 
blotted  from  the  firmament  by  their  sister 
orbs ! 

If  men  will  insist  on  drinking  from  the 
poisoned  wells  of  French  philosophy  and  Grer- 
man  rationalism,  and  then  watering  with  these 
streams  their  pulpits  and  congregations,  thank 
Grod  they  are  short-lived  and  their  end  is  sure  ! 
If  men  will  persist  in  lifting  their  heads  along 
this  line,  then  the  Christian  consensus  has  the 
nerve  to  apply  the  heroic  treatment,  and  am- 
putation, yea,  decapitation,  quickly  follows. 


HE  HATH  DONE  GEEAT  THINGS.     321 

While  the  denominations  differ  widely  on 
many  minor  subjects,  yet  there  is  an  elbow- 
touch,  as  the  French  say.  Many  hearts  and 
one  beat  concerning  the  great  doctrines  of  the 
inspiration  of  the  Scriptures,  salvation  by 
grace,  the  everlasting  punishment  of  the  lost, 
and  atonement  for  sin  through  the  death  of 
Jesus  Christ.  'Tis  "the  old  ship  of  Zion" 
that  is  so  popular,  and  "  her  Captain,  Judah's 
Lion,"  in  whose  line  the  people  want  to  sail. 
Our  fathers  made  the  voyage  in  this  stanch 
old  craft,  and  our  grandfathers;  and  we,  the 
grandchildren,  take  passage  too,  rather  than 
risk  ourselves  in  the  balloon  of  some  nebulous 
aeronaut  as  he  sets  sail  for  the  aerial  regions 
"  where  lie  the  desolated  heavens  of  the  oblit- 
erated gods." 

The  limits  of  this  occasion  forbid  that  I  con- 
tinue longer  the  enumeration  of  the  favors  of 
a  beneficent  Father.  It  only  remains  to  be 
urged  that  while  we  enjoy  these  blessings  to 
the  full — ^blessings  of  health,  wealth,  peace,  free- 
dom, civil  and  religious — and  are  glad,  let  us 
not  forget  to  give  practical,  substantial  proofs 
of  our  gladness.  "While  we  look  with  satisfac- 
tion at  our  bank-accounts,  our  well-loaded 
tables,  the  glow  of  health  upon  the  cheeks  of 
our  sons  and  daughters,  our  bodies  clad  in 
silks,  broadcloths,  and  furs,  our  cellars  well 


322  THANKSGIVING  SERMONS. 

stored  with  fuel,  let  us  not  forget  the  poor — 
God's  poor.  "  Freely  ye  have  received,  freely 
give."  "  He  that  giveth  to  the  poor  lendeth  to 
the  Lord."  "  The  poor  ye  always  have  with 
you,  and  whensoever  ye  will  ye  may  do  them 
good." 

This  is  a  day  in  which  to  do  them  good.  My 
brother,  a  barrel  of  flour,  a  ton  of  coal,  a  strong 
pair  of  shoes,  a  warm  overcoat,  a  few  dollars 
in  money,  a  fat  turkey  with  the  concomitants, 
will  cause  the  widow's  heart  to  sing  for  joy, 
and  she  with  us  will  catch  up  this  refrain  of 
the  text  and  join  in  the  chorus  with  gladder 
voice  than  we:  "The  Lord  hath  done  great 
things  for  us ;  whereof  we  are  glad." 


TIMELY  THOUGHTS. 

Our  Benefits. — Every  hour,  every  circum- 
stance, brings  some  lesson,  some  benefit,  from 
God.  Every  hour,  every  circumstance,  there- 
fore, should  carry  with  it  some  tribute  of  our 
gratitude.  Peculiar  mercies  should  receive 
peculiar  acknowledgments.  Every  morning's 
comforts  should  draw  forth  every  morning's 
praise.  Every  evening's  mercies  should  excite 
every  evening's  gratitude.  Every  day  should 
be  a  thanksgiving  da}^  Our  whole  life  should 
be  a  life  of  praise. — Stevenson'^ 


TIMELY  THOUGHTS.  323 

The  Glory  of  the  Country. — It  is  the  glory 
of  our  republic  that  in  it  the  Bible  lies  open, 
and  the  churches  and  schools  are  so  nearly  free 
that  no  one  is  necessarily  deprived  of  their 
advantages.  If  we  aspire  to  be  still  more 
glorious  as  a  country  in  the  future,  we  must 
guard  our  Sabbaths,  our  Bible,  and  our  schools. 
If  we  guard  the  churches  and  the  schools 
well  we  need  not 

"  Heed  the  skeptic's  hands 
While  near  the  school  the  church  spire  stands, 
Nor  fear  the  blinded  bigot's  rule 
WTiile  near  the  church  spire  stands  the  school." 

Let  us,  by  the  help  of  God,  try  to  make 
great  and  successful  efforts  to  establish  right- 
eousness everywhere  through  this  fair  land. 
If  our  people  live  according  to  the  divine 
philosophy  of  life  this  great  republic  will  not 
only  increase  in  numbers,  prestige,  and  power, 
but  will  become  a  greater  blessing  to  the  hu- 
man race  in  the  future  than  it  has  been  in  the 
past. — J,  G.  Oakley^  D.D. 

Thoughts  for  Thanksgiving-  Day. — 
Thanksgiving  is  the  flower  of  gratitude  which 
has  its  roots  in  love.  There  is  such  a  thing 
as  thanksgiving  in  words  only ;  but  this,  be- 
ing a  dead  form  observed  in  obedience  to  com- 
mon customs,  may  proceed  from  the  lips  of 
one  whose  heart  is  a  stagnant  pool  of  ingrati- 


324  THANKSGIVING  SEEMONS. 

tude.  Thankful  speech  is  not  necessarily 
thankfulness.  It  may  be  the  language  of  mere 
thoughtlessness,  or  it  may  be  the  expression 
of  conscious  or  unconscious  hypocrisy.  In 
such  cases  it  fails  to  benefit  the  character  of 
him  who  offers  it,  and  since  it  takes  the  name 
of  God  in  vain,  it  must,  like  Cain's  sacrifice, 
be  offensive  to  the  Grod  of  all  mercies.  To  be 
profitable  to  the  worshiper  and  acceptable  to 
the  Unseen  but  All- seeing  One,  thanksgiving 
must  be  the  expression  of  a  heart  swelling 
with  those  grateful  emotions  which  nothing 
but  love  can  beget.  "  Love,"  says  a  quaint 
old  divine,  "  makes  all  our  services  acceptable ; 
it  is  the  musk  that  perfumes  them." — Selected, 
Giving  Thanks  alvrays  for  all  Things, — 
Is  it  saying  too  much  to  affirm  that  this  pre- 
cept contains  the  key  to  a  joyous  Christian 
life  ?  It  suggests  a  habit  both  of  the  mind  and 
heart — a  mind  trained  to  perceive  a  gift  of  God 
in  everything,  a  heart  quick  to  praise  God  for 
whatever  the  mind  sees  as  coming  from  him. 
Living  in  this  spirit  one's  life  becomes  a  con- 
stant hymn.  Every  mercy,  no  matter  how 
commonplace,  becomes  a  note  in  the  music  of 
the  heart.  A  night  of  peaceful  sleep  free  from 
pain ;  a  home  protected  from  disturbance ;  the 
morning's  meal;  order  in  the  household;  the 
strength  to  labor ;  safety  on  a  journey — every- 


TIMELY   THOUGHTS.  325 

thing,  in  short,  as  events  succeed  each  other 
through  the  day,  awakens  thought,  yea,  more 
than  a  thought — a  consciousness  of  the  divine 
presence,  and  that  thought  calls  up  a  grateful 
"  I  thank  thee.  Lord,  for  this  mercy."  He  who 
lives  thus  keeps  perpetual  thanksgiving  day ; 
and  the  day  of  national  thanksgiving  finds  him 
already  possessed  of  its  spirit  and  prepared  to 
extend  the  range  of  his  thoughts  from  his  own 
personal  mercies  to  those  which  are  national. 
More  than  this,  such  a  man  has  the  spirit  of 
the  life  that  is  to  come,  and  death  to  him  will 
only  be  a  transition  from  singing  the  Lamb  in 
hymns  below  to  singing  of  his  glory  in  a  nobler 
strain  in  the  choir  above. — Christian  Advocate. 
Patriotism  and  Keligion. — Patriotic  sen- 
timent is  good ;  religious  fervor  is  better.  Al- 
legiance to  native  land  is  praiseworthy ;  alle- 
giance to  God  is  unspeakably  more  worthy  of 
praise.  We  love  our  country,  for  we  enjoy 
under  her  protection  the  liberties  which  make 
us  a  great  and  happy  people ;  but  let  us  not 
forget  that  we  owe  to  God  every  blessing — 
even  our  political  liberties.  Noble  is  it  for 
men  to  take  their  stand  bravely  for  the  right 
in  times  of  peril ;  the  highest  possible  nobility 
is  reached  when  we  stand  fearlessly  in  a  selfish 
world  for  God  and  his  righteousness. 

— J,  A.  Lippincott^  D.D, 


326  THANKSGIVING  SERMONS. 

Two  Thanksg:ivings. — The  beginning  of 
the  history  of  this  world  was  a  song ;  the  end- 
ing will  be  a  doxology.  Between  these  two 
thanksgivings  was  a  psean  of  praise  over  Beth- 
lehem's plain  that  sweetly  coupled  together  the 
old  and  the  new  dispensations.  The  secret  of 
all  rational  contentment  is  thanksgiving ;  and 
"godliness  with  contentment  is  great  gain." 
.  .  .  Eejoice  to-day ;  there  are  clouds  and  tears, 
but  there  is  also  a  bow.  Be  still ;  be  thankful, 
cheerful,  and  glad.  ..."  His  name  shall  en- 
dure forever :  his  name  shall  be  continued  as 
long  as  the  sun :  and  men  shall  be  blessed  in 
him :  all  nations  shall  call  him  blessed.  Blessed 
be  the  Lord  God,  the  God  of  Israel,  who  only 
doeth  wondi-ous  things.  And  blessed  be  his 
glorious  name  forever :  and  let  the  whole  earth 
be  filled  with  his  glory.  Amen,  and  Amen." 
Thanksgiving?  Surely!  Garlands  of  grati- 
tude and  banners  of  blessings  let  us  wave  be- 
fore him !  Why  1  For  everything  give  thanks. 
Praise  ye  the  Lord. — The  King'^s  Messenger. 

Bible. — "  0  give  thanks  unto  the  Lord ;  for 
he  is  good:  for  his  mercy  endureth  forever. 
O  give  thanks  unto  the  God  of  gods :  for  his 
mercy  endureth  forever.  0  give  thanks  to  the 
Lord  of  lords :  for  his  mercy  endureth  forever. 
"Who  remembered  us  in  our  low  estate :  for  his 
mercy  endureth  forever.    And  hath  redeemed 


SUGGESTIVE  THEMES.  327 

US  from  our  enemies :  for  his  mercy  endnretli 
forever.  O  give  thanks  unto  the  Grod  of 
heaven :  for  his  mercy  endureth  forever."  (Ps. 
cxxxvi.  1-3,  23,  24,  26.)— Stevenson, 


SUGGESTIVE  THEMES. 

Seed-time  and  Harvest.    Matt.  xiii.  3. 

Past  Mercies  a  Pledge  of  Future  Good.    Psalm  cxv.  12. 

Abundant  Provision.     Psalm  cxlv.  16. 

Divine  Forces  in  Human  History.     Psalm  xcvii.  1,  2. 

Christian  Civilization.     Prov.  xii.  26. 

The  Divine  Conditions  of  Nationality.     Ezek.  xx.  6. 

Heavenly  Gifts.     Psalm  cxvi.  13. 

David's  Thanksgiving.     1  Chron.  xxix.  10-19. 

Eestoring  the  Years  which  the    Canker-worm  has    Eaten. 

Joel  ii.  25. 
The  Glory  of  the  Country.     Ezek.  xxv.  9. 
A  Kingly  Year.     Psalm  Ixv.  11. 

The  Goodness  of  God  in  Little  Things.     Psalm  xxxiii.  5. 
God's  Great-heartedness.     Matt.  ix.  13 ;  Hosea  vi.  6. 
Politics  for  Christians.     Matt.  xxii.  21. 
A  Lesson  for  Harvest.     Hosea  ii.  21,  22. 
The  Sin  of  Ingratitude.     Luke  xvii.  17. 
Eebuilding  Waste  Places.     Isa.  liii.  12. 
The  Wonderful  Works    of    God  are   to   be   Remembered. 

Psalm  cxi.  4, 
Happy  Homes.     Luke  ii.  51. 
The  Commandment  with  Promise.     Exod.  xx.  12. 
Repairing  Breaches.     Isa.  liii.  12. 
National  Blessings.     Psalm  cxlvii.  20. 
Temporal  Prosperity  Follows  Duty.     Isa.  Iviii.  14. 
The  Lord's  Dinner.     John  xxi.  12. 
The  Nation  Strengthened.     Zech.  i.  16. 
Gladness  of  Completed  Work.     Isa.  ix.  3. 


328  THANKSGIVING   SERMONS. 


SUGGESTIVE  TEXTS. 

All  are  yours.     1  Cor.  iii.  22. 

The  Lord  is  good  to  all :  and  Ms  tender  mercies  are  over  a'U 

his  works.     Psalm  cxlv.  9. 
I  am  a  citizen  of  no  mean  country.     Acts  xxi.  39. 
He  hath  not  dealt  so  with  any  nation,  etc.     Psalm  cxlvii.  20. 
Come  and  dine.     John.  xxi.  12. 
I  will  hear  the  heavens,  and  they  shall  hear  the  earth ;  and 

the  earth  shall  hear  the  com,  and  the  wine,  and  the  oil. 

Hosea  ii.  21,  22. 
Thou  openest  thine  hand,  and  satisfiest  the  desire  of  every 

living  thing.     Psalms  cxlv.  16. 
^The  Lord  reigneth ;  let  the  earth  rejoice ;  let  the  multitude 

of  isles  be  glad  thereof,  etc.     Psalm  xcvii.  1,  2. 
Oh  that  men  would  praise  the  Lord  for  his  goodness,  etc. 

Psalm  evii.  8. 
Thus   saith   the   Lord;    I  am  returned  to  Jerusalem  with 

mercies,  etc.     Zech.  i.  16. 
Happy  is  that  people,  that  is  in  such  a  case :  yea,  happy  is 

that  people,  whose  God  is  the  Lord.     Psalm  cxliv.  15. 
My  soul  desired  the  first  ripe  fruit.     Mieah  vii.  1. 
Go  your  way,  eat  the  fat,  and  drink  the  sweet,  and  send,  etc. 

Neh.  viii.  10. 
Enter  into  his  gates  with  thanksgiving,  and  into  his  courts 

with  praise :  be  thankful  unto  him,  and  bless  his  name. 

Psalm  c.  4. 
Thou  art  good,  and  doest  good.     Psalm  cxix.  68. 
Thy  kingdom  come.     Matt.  vi.  10. 

Thou  crownest  the  year  with  thy  goodness.     Psalm  Ixv.  11. 
The  mercy  of  the  Lord  is  from  everlasting  to  everlasting  upon 

them  that  fear  him,  etc.  Psalm  ciii.  17. 
My  Father  is  the  husbandman.  John  xv.  1. 
Delight  thyself  in  the  Lord ;  and   I  will  cause  thee  to  ride 

upon  the  high  places  of  the  earth.     Isa.  Iviii.  14. 
i  The  glory  of  the  country.     Ezek.  xxv.  9. 


SUGGESTIVE  TEXTS.  329 

I  desired  mercy,  and  not  sacrifice.     Hosea  vi.  6 ;  Matt.  ix.  13. 
He  hath  made    his  wonderful  works    to   be    remembered. 

Psalm  cxi.  4. 
They  joy  before  thee  according  to  the  joy  in  harvest.    Isa. 

ix.  3. 
/     O  give  thanks  imto  the  Lord ;  for  he  is  good :  for  his  mercy 

endureth  forever.     Psalm  cxxxvi.  1. 
Herein  is  my  Father  glorified,  that  ye  bear  much  fruit.    John 

XV.  8. 
The  earth  is  full  of  the  goodness  of  the  Lord.     Psalm  xxxiii.  5. 
Behold,  a  sower  went  forth  to  sow.     Matt.  xiii.  3. 
A  land  that  I  had  espied  for  them,  flowing  with  milk  and 

honey,  which  is  the  glory  of  all  lands.     Ezek.  xx.  6. 
The  Lord  hath  been  mindful  of  us  :  he  will  bless  us.     Psalm 

cxv.  12. 
Now  therefore,  our  God,  we  thank  thee,  and  praise  thy  glo- 
rious name.     1  Chron.  xxix.  13. 
^-  He  hath  not  dealt  so  with  any  nation.     Psalm  cxlvii.  20. 
High  above  all  nations  which  he  hath  made  in  praise,  and  in 

name,  and  in  honor.     Deut.  xxvi.  19. 
Every  good  gift  and  every  perfect  gift  is  from  above,  etc. 
C^      James  i.  17. 


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